


Furtive Interlude

by anarchistslullaby



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - No Voldemort, And Rita Skeeter is just as obsessed with Harry and his friends' lives, And just as much as of an annoyance, But Hermione and Draco only, But blood purity is a thing, Draco becomes a specialist Healer, F/M, Genderbending, Harry is still as famous as in canon, Hermes is "famous" as Harry's friend and because of his views and his work in the Ministry, Hermione works in the Ministy, I didn't like a different name for Draco, I'll add more ships and characters as the story progresses, Not Canon Compliant, Post-Hogwarts, Voldemort died on the same night as Lily and James, Who are now Hermes and Draco, dramione - Freeform, will add more tags
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-13
Updated: 2019-04-24
Packaged: 2019-06-27 01:12:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 26,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15675027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anarchistslullaby/pseuds/anarchistslullaby
Summary: Dramione genderbend. Draco Narcissa Malfoy has everything she wants in life. Her parents consider her the perfect daughter, except they don't know her boyfriend is Hermes Granger, well-known muggleborn. Someone they could never approve of. Worse, Draco had never been happier or more content and cannot imagine living without him in her life.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I thought of making this a complete genderbend, but it felt too complicated; so its just Hermione and Draco.  
> Also, Voldemort was killed with Lily and James Potter, but blood purity still exists in pureblood circles. Anyway, enjoy!

Draco Narcissa Malfoy was born into a life where she was doted upon, where she had everything she had ever wanted in life. She was the first female Malfoy to be born ( _ “In recorded history!” _ her grandfather had boasted on the day of her birth to everyone he deemed important), and because of that, her life was even more perfect than it would have been had she been born a boy. Her parents were extremely wealthy; her father being the only inheritor of the Malfoy fortune being an only child (it was a cause for extreme celebration when any Malfoy managed to have a second child) and her mother being the only inheritor of hers by default; her sister Bellatrix had died in Azkaban and had no children, and her sister Andromeda had married a muggle and was promptly disinherited.

Her first name had been chosen very carefully by a seer (a  _ real _ seer, unlike what Trelawney pretended to be) as was tradition. Draco's parents, expecting to have a boy, had only asked for a boy's name and by the time she was born, the seer had passed of old age at 159. Her grandfather promptly declared that Draco was to be her name. Her mother was given the honour of Draco having her middle name, something which was forbidden to Malfoys in the past.

Draco didn't think there was anything she could have wanted for in her life. Her parents doted on her, gave her anything she ever wanted. She lived in Malfoy Manor and always had other pureblood playmates to play with. In Hogwarts her status as the female Malfoy had earned her a very high social standing among Slytherins and purebloods. She got good grades and was a seeker on the Slytherin quidditch team, which made her parents even happier, and her years at Hogwarts were mostly wonderful, except for some students who disliked her because of her father's supposed alignment with Voldemort. Harry Potter, whose mother Lily had managed to kill the dark lord once and for all, but had died in the process, and his Gryffindor friends were a particular thorn on her side.

Still, Draco graduated with high grades in her NEWTS and obtained a mastery in potions. Unsatisfied with just this, she trained as a healer at St. Mungo's and slowly gained a reputation for developing potions specific to a person;s problems and their illnesses. Draco had dealt with vicious types of spattergroit, dragon pox, some types of splinching, insomnia, fertility and even several muggle illnesses. She soon became very well-known and St Mungo's had even taken to summoning her for their very bizarre cases.

Generally, Malfoy women (or women who married into the Malfoy family, Draco supposed) did not pursue any kind of career, as it was considered beneath them, but her parents were very proud of their daughter. Technically, Draco hadn't planned for a career; she had mostly studied and trained out of boredom. While most purebloods were married a few years after they graduated, her parents her parents hadn't been worried or concerned. Draco was very sought out after; even the Macmillans, who were very openly “Mudblood lovers”, had sent a proposal of marriage, as was pureblood custom. Draco remembered the way her mother had laughed at the letter, and set it aflame. Not answering was considered an unforgivable faux-pas even if the proposal was from a half-blood. Still, Draco's parents had been unconcerned.

“Your grandfather might not have liked it,” her father had said once. “But he disliked many things. You have impeccable Malfoy breeding and are incredibly powerful and an exceptional witch.”

Then how was it, exactly four months later, did Draco find herself in the arms of none other than Hermes Granger, muggleborn wizard, Gryffindor; who Draco had considered the most annoying of Harry Potter's, the decorated Boy who Lived (all he had done was simply  _ not die _ . Draco couldn't understand the hype), little trio. Worse, Draco had never been more content. 

* * *

 

Hermes J Granger was the only child of two dentists and was born into a world that did not believe in magic. Yet, strange things kept happening and both Dr Grangers were confused until his eleventh birthday. Hermes lived in a magical world where Voldemort was vanquished, but the aftereffects were still evident. His best friend, Harry Potter lost his parents, and even though they saved the entire magical world, it was not easy growing up without parents. He was raised by his uncles, Sirius and Remus, and regularly saw his grandparents, his mother’s parents. He grew up loved by many who told him stories of his parents, but always grew up wishing he could at least remember their voices. Neville’s parents lost their sanities and resided in St Mungos forever, refusing to give up to Bellatrix. There were still wizards who believed that Hermes did not belong, who cursed at him in hallways and taunted him with names he didn’t really know the meanings of until Ron told him. Ron said most of their parents were aligned with Voldemort and had somehow managed not to go to Azkaban. By the time he had graduated from Hogwarts, Hermes didn’t let it bother him.

He joined the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, where he worked to do exactly what he believed in; helping those who nobody was protecting. People made fun of S.P.E.W. and told Hermes he was fighting a losing and unnecessary battle, but he believed in himself and that was what he felt was important. It was a hard battle, but Hermes was enjoying the work he was doing. His parents would sometimes pester him about his lack of a love life, and privately he felt that once certain wizards reached a certain old age and became ancient and cantankerous and completely racist and elitist.

Until one day when he received a call from his mother. He had been roaming around magical London with them and was surprised to hear from his parents a few days later. He and his parents talked often, but it was usually on the weekends, as both Hermes and his parents were quite busy with their jobs. 

“Hi Mum..” said Hermes, but his mother cut him off immediately.

“Hermes dear, your father is admitted to hospital. There's something wrong….his face and body are covered….there’s purple pus...the doctors can’t seem to understand…” his mother sounded very agitated. “I think it might be…” she lowered her voice. “... _ magical _ . I don’t know what to do. The doctors here have no idea what to do.”

“Mum, I think it might be spattergroit,” said Hermes, quickly getting up and putting on his robes, and getting up. “I know someone at St Mungo's; Dad will probably be moved there.”

In a few hours, Hermes’ father was moved to St Mungo’s where the healer did indeed diagnose him with spattergroit. However, the regular cure for spattergroit, a disease that generally took a few months to recover from, did not seem to be working as well as the healers had expected. Hermes was pale with worry for both his parents; his mother barely left her husband’s side and her father still had purple pus flowing out of pustules all over his body and could barely nod.

“The pustules should have stopped flowing, at least,” the healer assigned to her father had told Hermes and his mother. “We don’t expect patients to speak for about two month after they start treatment…” he paused. “We think it might be because he’s a muggle, and we’ve found a squib who has trained to become a medical doctor. He should be arriving in the morning.”

“I see,” said Hermes’s mother. She frowned, “A squib?”

“A magicless person born to a magical family,” Hermes informed his mother.

“I see,” said his mother. “I hope that this doctor is able to help.”

He was, in fact. Dr Robert Frost was sent by the Australian Ministry of Magic and was probably one of a few (if not the only) people who knew how to treat muggle and magical illnesses, even though he was unable to do the latter. He diagnosed Hermes’ father with pneumonia as well as the spattergroit.

“That’ll make it trickier to treat,” said Dr Frost to the healer and Hermes and his mother; his father was mostly asleep or too ill to be able to follow the conversation. “I suspect that the cure needs to be specifically tailored for both illnesses, rather than treating him for both individually.”

“Is there anything you can do?” asked Hermes’ mother.

“I’m afraid you’d need someone magical,” said Dr Frost, scratching the back of his neck. He turned to the healer. “Is there anyone on your staff acquainted with muggle illnesses?”

“Not particularly, but…” said the healer. She paused, deep in thought. Finally, she said; “I think that we employ some freelancers to treat particularly difficult or tricky ailments. Let me see what I can do. We’ll still need you, healer, er, dokter Frost,” she said, struggling with the unfamiliar word.

* * *

 

Hermes was busy with work at the ministry for the next month (audits were the  _ worst _ ) and as a result wasn’t able to see his father as much. He felt guilty, but always made sure to visit after work, which sometimes ended up being at nearly midnight, when both of his parents were already asleep. His mother mostly stayed by his father’s side, despite Hermes having offered his flat to her, which was closer. She had refused, knowing how to use the floo, preferring her own house. 

His work at the ministry was keeping him so busy he even had to go in on Sundays at times, a day he would generally spend all of with his father, reliving his mother to rest at home. He would have spent the Saturday before running errands, but Hermes was already running ragged working at the ministry. Sometimes, he asked Ron (who had left the auror office to run Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes with Fred and George, and was therefore not under the same stress as him or Neville or even Percy, someone who generally had absolute faith in the ministry and its practices but sometimes mentioned how it could be a slightly less rigorous process) or Harry for help and felt bad for not exactly telling his mother, but he vowed to be a better son as soon as it was over. At least the healers at St Mungo’s and Dr Frost seemed to be pleased with the consultant they’d hired to prepare his father’s antidote.

The day the audit ended, Hermes felt the entire ministry celebrate. Percy Weasley proposed to his girlfriend Audrey, who Hermes was vaguely aware worked somewhere in the ministry, but Ron had told Hermes (and almost everyone else in the ministry) a few too many times that Percy was just making up his relationship with Audrey so that his mother would stop pestering him to find someone to marry, and Hermes had believed him, as had everyone else. To celebrate, everyone Hermes knew and had ever met, decided to go to the Leaky Cauldron to celebrate. Hermes had begged off, saying truthfully that he had to go to his father’s side, where even more good news was waiting for him. 

Hermes had not seen his father for six days, and was amazed at how much his condition had improved. The purple pustules were completely gone, and his father was eating! Granted, it was soup, but it was quite a change from being given IVs for nutrition (Hermes’ mother had been very skeptical of the idea of a spell that could give her husband all the nutrition he needed, and had asked Dr Frost to arrange it). He still was unable to talk, but he was still better than he had been in what seemed like ages. His mother was very appreciative of the healer who had concocted the potion for Hermes’ father.

“Lovely girl,” she had said. “She said she made a potion that she said would even speed the recovery! She had lovely teeth.” She paused, and chuckled. “Looked completely bewildered when I asked her if she’d had braces…I can’t remember her name. Something with a B…..no D...maybe a D?” she shrugged. “She never really stayed for very long; I think she had more patients to look after. You may know her though, she looked about your age.”

His age? Hermes hadn’t the foggiest who her mother could have been referring to, but perhaps it was someone who had been a year or two above or below him at Hogwarts. He was just appreciating the fact that his father was recovering so quickly, and vowed to thank this very skilled healer when he met her. 

Which, it turned out, wasn’t very far off into the future. Hermes literally ran into her a week later, on his way to the cafeteria to pick up some hot chocolate for his father. He had just regained the ability to speak, and had immediately asked for hot chocolate. It was the fourth cup of hot chocolate _ Hermes _ was fetching for him, but his father’s healer had said that a fixation on some kind of food or drink was normal at this stage of the illness. 

 Hermes was slightly worried about all the chocolate his father was consuming; he probably had never consumed this much chocolate in his life, but Healer Rowle seemed very confident about his father’s condition, and she would know best. 

He was so caught up in his thoughts that he forgot to pay attention to where he was going and ended up spilling his drink on...Draco Malfoy of all people. Who was wearing healer’s robe. Hermes had no idea rich purebloods were even  _ allowed _ to have jobs, much less wanted to have them. After fervently apologizing to her in his harried state (work had been hard and long that day and his father was very impatient these days; another side effect), he went back to the cafeteria to procure another hot chocolate for his father. Which led to him finding his former classmate in his father’s hospital room and finding out that she was the one who had designed the specific cure for him. Hermes found himself thanking someone profusely that he never thought he would ever thank in his life. One meeting with his former classmate who should have hated his for his parentage led to another...and another; first by of virtue of her being one of his father’s healer, and soon by choice; and four months later, Hermes had a girlfriend.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is mostly fluff, unlike the first chapter. Enjoy!

Hermes exited his bathroom, having just taken a shower. He was dressed in just his pajama bottoms and was vigorously drying his short, dark hair with a brightly coloured drawing on it that Draco always found odd. Her boyfriend could have easily used a drying charm (not that he really needed to, his hair was short enough it would dry within minutes, unlike her’s) but he was probably used to waiting for his hair to dry like muggles probably did. Then again, muggles  _ must _ have some kind of contraption for drying hair, thought Draco. 

‘My mother thinks I’m making up our relationship,’ said Hermes. ‘She thinks that I’m playing some kind of elaborate joke on her because you don’t use a toothbrush.’

Draco blinked. “That makes no sense, Granger,” she said, curtly. 

‘Well, there’s only one toothbrush in my bathroom, and it's obviously mine,’ said Hermes. ‘If you were a muggle, you’d need to brush your teeth, and so you’d have a spare here in my flat.’

‘That is the strangest thing I have ever heard,’ said Draco. 

Hermes shrugged and threw the wet towel on an empty chair and sat down on his bed, next to Draco, placing a kiss on her temple. 

‘Not that I’m always pleased to see you,’ said Hermes. ‘But you usually don’t come over on Fridays.’

Draco grimaced. ‘Pansy told me that Blaise said he heard Mrs Fawley tell his mother she was going to ask for my hand in marriage,’ she said. ‘I’d rather not be there when Mother and Father reject her.’ 

‘Arranged marriage?’ said Hermes. ‘Now, that is the strangest thing I have ever heard.’ he parroted. He looked thoughtful for a moment. ‘It sounds terrible. I can’t believe that this is the reality for some purebloods.’ There was a passionate look in his eye that Draco recognised and secretly adored. ‘I should talk to Kingsley. He could pass a new law to stop such archaic practices in modern day society! I bet someone in the Wizengamot could.’

‘ _ Most _ of the Wizengamot had arranged marriages,’ interrupted Draco. ‘They’re all so old they probably existed when women and men weren’t allowed to talk to one another…’ she trailed off. 

‘That doesn’t make it _ right _ ,’ protested Hermes. ‘Maybe I could talk to Mr Weasley about this.’ He paused. ‘Your parents won’t make you, will they? I know they don’t know about me and it’s your decision to tell them but..’

‘Oh, no need to worry about that,’ said Draco, waving her hand dismissively. ‘My parents let me do whatever I want. And most purebloods don’t care anymore.’

‘You spent an hour last week telling me about Pansy’s older sister and that Mulciber man nearly  _ fifteen  _ years older her parents almost made her get her to marry,’ pointed out Hermes.

‘Well, she’s married to a Travers now, so Pansy’s parents couldn’t care less what the rest of their children do,’ remarked Draco. They’ve spawned the most annoying child I’ve ever met, and Pansy is somehow always left to care for it while her sister and brother-in-law and off gallivanting.’

‘I wondered why you hadn’t been visiting Pansy,’ said Hermes. He paused. ‘Doesn’t Pansy have two other sisters?’

Draco snorted. ‘One of them is doing a job in MACUSA, or as her parents call it, finishing school in South of France, she said. ‘And compared to Rosemary, Pansy is the sister who would selflessly devote her life and all of her money to care for kneazles. And Pansy  _ hates _ kneazles.’

Hermes raised his eyebrows, trying to imagine his former classmate Pansy Parkinson anything even resembling maternal. He hadn’t known her very well, but in school she had always seemed rather cruel and spoiled and quite mean. But then again, he reflected, he hadn’t had a very good impression of his girlfriend in school either.  

‘And that baby is the worst,’ continued Draco. ‘It wouldn’t stop crying and Daphne and I left early.’ 

‘It?’ said Hermes.

‘She,’ said Draco, waving her hand and wondering why her boyfriend still hadn’t bothered to put on a shirt. She didn’t mind, of course, it just felt somewhat unusual.

Hermes rested his head on his pillow and laid down on the bed. ‘I refuse to believe Pansy Parkinson spends her days looking after her baby niece,’ he said, pulling Draco close to her so that she was laying down as well, her head resting on his bare chest.

‘Well there’s a governess or a nanny, I suppose,’ admitted Draco. ‘But her parents keep making her stay at home with the baby. And I think Pansy has a new boyfriend that she’s been spending a lot of time with, which isn’t unusual at all, but she refused to tell me or Daphne or  _ anyone _ really who it is.’

‘Maybe she thinks you won’t approve,’ said Hermes dubiously, having heard about plenty of Pansy’s boyfriends from her. He put his arms around her, which Draco always liked. Her boyfriend was a big cuddler, and they laid together in silence for a few minutes, one of Hermes’ hands lightly brushing through her hair.

‘You know,’ he said. ‘I always wondered how all you purebloods managed not to develop any deformities owing to inbreeding.’

‘Technically, being pureblood means all four of your grandparents were magical, so most “pureblood families”, so to speak, have some muggle blood, other than fanatics like the Blacks, Lestranges and Gaunts,’ said Draco. ‘But I think the Ministry anticipated something like this and something magical is behind it. Some people believe it's why we have squibs.’ She paused. ‘My grandfather believed it's why i was born a girl.’

Hermes laughed, a sound she quite liked, but she had no idea what was the cause of his laughter. He seemed to stop when he realised that she wasn’t joking. ‘What do you mean, the reason you were born a girl?’ he asked her. 

‘Haven’t you heard about me being the only Malfoy girl to have been born?’ Draco asked her boyfriend. 

“I assumed that was some kind of strange boasting,’ admitted Hermes. ‘And it never made sense to me.’

Draco sat up, genuinely surprised. ‘It makes perfect sense!’ she said, and spent the next ten minutes telling her very skeptical boyfriend the circumstances of her birth. Which in turn culminated into Draco receiving a muggle science lesson about gender determination. Which led to Draco watching a strange video that talked about xs and ys and chromosomes and genotypes and phenotypes that she didn’t really understand. 

‘But you’re a  _ healer _ , Draco’ said Hermes, as if the situation had somehow personally offended him. 

‘We don’t learn about muggle science in healer training,’ protested Draco. ‘You know that. You were there asked about needles and was  _ astounded _ we don’t use such a barbaric practice.’ 

‘That doesn’t mean muggle genetics don’t apply to you,’ said Hermes to his girlfriend. He was pacing his bedroom at this point, and Draco recognised the look in his eye was the same as when he was taking tests in school. He wasn’t going to let this go until he was satisfied. ‘You told me yourself that your ancestors usually had one child. The odds of all of them having been male all through the bloodline are slim, but it is  _ possible.’  _ He paused. ‘Although, it is entirely possible your ancestors could have just excluded the Malfoy women as history has often done.’ 

‘And,’ he continued. ‘I remember Fleur telling Mrs Weasley and Angelina about blood magic they used to use in France to make sure a baby was a certain gender about 300 years ago. She didn’t seem to think it ever really worked, though.’

Draco liked it when her boyfriend was passionate about things, but she wasn’t exactly sure where the conversation was heading. 

‘However, the easiest way to convince you would probably be to procure a sample and have it tested,’ he concluded.

‘You want a sample from me?’ said Draco. “Of what, blood?’ She knew muggles used bloods for all sorts of tests but wasn’t exactly sure how. Hermes had shown her a kind of paper strip and proceeded to _ cut his finger _ to show her something about blood type by cleaning his blood on the strip of paper. It had changed colour, which had apparently indicated he was type A positive, whatever that had meant. He had offered for her to try it, but Draco was already menstruating at the time and despite being a healer and understanding that such little blood would make no difference, hadn't wanted to. That, and why inflict pain on herself at all?

‘No the sample wouldn’t be yours,’ said Hermes. “It would be from your fa….’ He bristled, and shook his head. ‘Nevermind, maybe I’ll just have Ron or someone....' He refused to tell Draco what he had been about to say before, no matter how much she’d prodded.

Which was how Draco was formally introduced to Ron Weasley as his best friend’s girlfriend.

* * *

 

Unlike Draco’s parents and most of the people she knew, barring her friends Pansy and Daphne and Blaise, all of the people in Hermes’ life he deemed important enough knew about the relationship. Draco hadn’t really met any of them formally before but she was always vaguely aware of who knew and who didn’t. Technically, it wasn’t just Hermes’ flat, it was shared by him and Ron Weasley. Yet, other than meeting him in passing, they’d never really interacted. This was largely due to the fact that Hermes would come to her flat more often and that Ron Weasley seemed to have largely varying working hours and seemed to be asleep whenever he and Draco were both in his and Hermes’s shared flat.

Draco arrived at her boyfriend’s flat that Sunday to find he was not alone. She knew Ron Weasley would be there, but had not expected the kitchen to be full of Weasleys. Draco recognised one of the twins, still dressed in bright purple robes that they wore in their shop, the robes clashing terribly with his hair. There was another red haired Weasley, with a weather-beaten face completely covered in freckles and a red ponytail sitting next to Ron and a three year old girl who somehow hadn’t managed to inherit her family’s red hair. Harry Potter was also in the kitchen, using one of Hermes’ electrical appliances Draco couldn’t understand why he possessed. Everyone in the room, bar the little girl sitting on the large wooden kitchen table playing with stuffed animals covering said table, seemed to be in state of mild shock.

Draco quietly watched the scene unfold for a few seconds, until Hermes saw her looking at all of them with a perplexed look on her face. 

‘I didn’t realise I was being ambushed,’ she remarked, settling down on the table on the seat next to one of the twins.

‘Oh no,’ said Hermes. ‘We all just came from the Burrow. It's been a long day.’

‘Uncle Percy got married!’ chirped three year old Victoire, twirling a stuffed hedgehog of all animals. 

‘The bastard decided that the best course of action was to get married, then round up his entire family and tell them he and his girlfriend, that none of us even knew existed are married now,’ said Ron. ‘Mum went bezerk.’

‘She couldn’t decide whether she was happy Percy found someone or upset because he up and married without telling anyone,’ said Fred, ruefully. ‘Now she’s going to be after us all the time.’ At Harry’s laughter; ‘It's going to be worst of all for you and Ginny, Mr Boy Who Lived,’ he pointed one of Victoire’s animals at him. An  _ alpaca _ . Didn't the three year old have any normal stuffed animals? ‘Mark my words.’

‘I don’t doubt that,’ said Harry. ‘She couldn’t believe one of her kids could keep an entire relationship secret from her.’

‘He didn’t,’ interjected Hermes. ‘None of you believed him. Especially you, Ronald.’ He glared at the offender. 

‘He could have introduced one of us to her,’ said the Weasley Draco didn’t recognise.

‘He was probably afraid you’d make fun of her,’ said Hermes. ‘And  _ I  _ knew! None of you believed me! Aubrey and I became friends when I joined the Ministry, before she joined the Department of Mysteries.’

‘We also didn’t believe Ron when he said you were going out with the Malfoy princess,’ said Fred, looking at Draco. ‘Guess we need to learn what to believe and what not to.’ 

Hermes went to join Harry next to the stove and came back with plates of rice for everyone, while Ron cleared Victoire’s stuffed animals by levitating them into a basket next to the table. All of them ate in silence, except for Victoire, who seemed annoyed at the loss of her toys and refused to eat until she was promised her toys would be returned to her, and somewhat sullenly clutched the stuffed alpaca Fred had been holding as her uncle, the Weasley Draco didn’t recognise, fed her.

‘She can feed herself Charlie,’ said Ron, digging into his rice with gusto. 

‘Its okay,’ said Charlie, who Draco remembered Hermes telling her bred dragons somewhere. ‘I don’t see her as often as I like.’

‘Maybe that’s why Percy married now,’ suggested Draco. ‘He wanted all of his siblings to be there when he announced it.’

‘That makes sense,’ it was Harry who had spoken. ‘He made Ginny leave Australia for a few hours and she kept asking me why all week, as if I had any idea. She had to leave immediately after.’

‘I’m surprised you’re not in Australia yourself,’ remarked Fred. 

‘Its true that I have nothing better to do,’ said Harry, unashamedly. ‘But her coach is very strict. They’re not allowed to do much more than train.’

‘You know you could work with us,’ offered Fred. ‘Like I’ve said before, several times.’

‘No, I think I’m fine with cooking, being an occasional babysitter of Teddy and Victooire and going to all of Ginny’s games,’ said Harry. ‘I feel like everyone expects too much from me. The Boy Who Lived,’ he said sarcastically. ‘I was barely a year old. McGonagall mentioned that the Defense teacher might be looking to leave in a few years, so that’s something I guess.’

‘The offer is always open, mate,’ said Fred. He rounded onto Draco. ‘Ickle Ronniekins tells me that you and Hermes here met at St Mungos when you treated her father.’

‘Uh, yeah,’ said Draco.

Fred laughed. ‘I can imagine it already,’ he said. ‘ _ They met in the last place where one goes looking for love, and yet, a lifelong love blossomed _ .  _ Two people so different; the pureblood Slytherin Malfoy princess, and the studious, plain, far-too-tall boy with muggle parents. _ ..’

‘Easy, Fred,’ said Ron.

‘I’m sure Rita Skeeter would be very excited to write that article,’ said Fred grinning.

‘You shall do no such thing,’ said Charlie. He considered it for a minute. ‘I’d read it, though.’

‘Far-too-tall?’ said Hermes, the same time Draco said; ‘Lifelong love?’

‘I mean, mate, your dad is taller than me,’ said Ron. ‘And your mum is taller than him.’

Hermes shrugged. ‘She writes something new about Harry every week,’ he said. 

Harry grinned. ‘Mostly about how I’m wasting all my talent by lazing away at home,’ he said.

‘Or about how you seem to be having an affair with a new person every week,’ said Charlie, grinning. At everyone’s surprised looks; ‘I can get the Prophet in Bulgaria,’ he said. ‘They’re late, but still. My favourite are how she uses the phrase “ _ spending his wife’s hard-earned money on his illicit comings and goings _ ” and then calls Ginny terrible the next week for some completely made up reason.’

‘I’m glad my time in the spotlight is over,’ said Hermes. ‘Fourth year was not a fun time.’

‘I was surprised at the sheer number of men they decided to pair you with,’ said Harry. ‘Me, Ron, Fred…’

‘Who says it wasn’t true?’ said Fred jokingly, winking at Draco.

‘I think she was disappointed when she found out I was dating Viktoria,’ said Hermes, reminding Draco, rather uneasily, that her boyfriend used to date international quidditch player and triwizard champion of Durmstrung, Viktoria Krum.

‘She probably was,’ said Charlie. He put his plate and utensils down, and wiped a dodging Victoire’s face.

‘I want my spider!’ announced Victoire. Ron bristled, and hurriedly got up to collect everyone’s plates as Hermes handed the little girl her stuffed spider. Did most children have every single kind of strange animal in the form of a stuffed toy? By looking at the basket of toys, Draco was very sure there was no stuffed bear among them.

Draco was glad the conversation in the room and food had made her boyfriend forget about the conversation that the two of them had had a few nights before, but as soon as she thought this.

‘So I asked Mum like you said, Hermes,’ said Ron, still not leaving the area near the sink. ‘And Mum says that it's the same for both muggles and magical folk, but she thinks there might be spells. She thinks Andromeda could tell you better.’

‘Teddy said he missed you last week,’ said Harry. He thought for a moment. ‘Draco,’ he said ‘Do you wear wizarding robes all the time?’

‘Yes,’ said Draco.

‘That sounds exhausting,’ said Fred, the pureblood, and the only other person in wizarding robes, albeit uniform, ironically.

‘She wears them when whenever we go to muggle London,’ said Hermes.

‘Hold on,’ said Ron, walking towards Draco, and pointing a finger at her. ‘You mean to tell me that you, Draco Malfoy, daughter of the two most fanatical people about blood purity who are not in Azkaban or dead, go to muggle London  _ willingly _ ?’ Evidently the idea that Draco mingled with muggles was enough for him to forget about the stuffed spider Victoire was happily playing with, blissfully unaware of the conversation. Being three years old sounded fun.

‘Yes?’ said Draco. ‘I’m not able to stand up to them on the blood purity front and tell them about my wonderful boyfriend, but I assure you, we don’t share the same bigoted views.’ It would have been impossible to, being friends with Daphne.

‘And we can’t really go out where people know her, for fear of her parents and the bloodthirsty paparazzi,’ said Hermes. ‘I wouldn’t be able to work in peace, ever.’ He paused for a moment. ‘Maybe I should take you with me when I go clothes shopping, Draco. I mean...your clothes fit the purpose of mingling with muggles but the clothes are kind of grandmotherly.’

‘I wouldn’t know,’ Draco admitted. She had procured the clothing for when she went to mugle London herself. She’d had to, a few times a year since she started working for St Mungo’s. 

‘Don’t let him take you for that sushi thing,’ said Fred, helpfully. ‘I can’t understand why that crazed bastard likes it, but its  _ vile _ .’

‘Too late,’ said Hermes, as Draco grimaced at the memory. She’d liked most foods that Hermes suggested they try out, but she drew the line at  _ raw _ fish. What could have caused anyone to invent such a deplorable food, she had no idea.

‘Only muggles can like that garbage,’ said Ron. ‘Harry brought some to the Burrow once and he was the only one who could eat it. Dad tried, but even he couldn’t. Mum was worried Harry ate like that all the time, so she started sending Victoire over so he’d grocery shop more often.’

Draco couldn’t understand the correlation.

‘He’d take her to the grocery shop as soon as she’d come because he didn't have any food he thought she liked,’ said Hermes.

‘He’s created a monster though,’ said Ron. ‘As soon as she sees him, she demands to be taken to a muggle grocery shop.’

“Grocery?’ said Victoire, hopefully, putting down the stuffed animal. Ron noticed it at that moment, and fled back into the room as further away as he could.

‘Gotta get back to the shop!’ said Fred, and apparated away with a pop. Ron, the person who had actually brought Victoire with him, decided to do the same. Whether it was to avoid responsibility or flee the spider, Draco wasn’t sure. 

‘We have to go back to the Burrow now,’ said Harry, motioning to himself and Charlie. 

Charlie picked up a slightly squirming Victoire, while Harry carried her basket of toys and the two of them apparated away with a pop.

Hermes turned to look at his girlfriend; ‘Ever wanted to go to a muggle supermarket?’ he asked.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is more of a fluffy chapter, where I have somehow mentioned pregnancy more than I ever planned on doing (DW, Draco and Hermes aren't having a kid). Its longer than the first two, and slightly more serious than the last. Hope you enjoy it!

As part of her further potions training, Draco ventured into the muggle world. She had been taught about muggle herbs and what ingredients from the muggle world could be used as substitutes if the need arose. This meant several field trips into the muggle world. However, the field trips had been more  _ scientific _ , if anything. She wore the muggle clothing she had been supplied and went with her instructor, an old Spanish witch they all referred to as Madam Alvarez. The trips usually consisted of going to muggle libraries and greenhouses, or fields or wherever Madam Alvarez deemed they could find good potions ingredients or alternatives. When she started working at St Mungo’s, some of her more complicated cases involved muggles, and Draco had to learn more about muggle ailments and basic muggle medical practices, and even had to use muggle ingredients in her potions. This led to several trips to muggle hospitals, parts of which terrified her to no end. _ Surgery _ was horrific. Draco had no idea how someone would decide to cut up someone and explore all their innards or how the practice could possibly become widespread. Before, she had thought stitches were mad. It had explained to her how her muggle patients gave away blood so easily, they were doing it all the time in muggle hospitals. A magical person would have been wary because of blood magic, even at St Mungo’s, but muggles were willing to share and give away blood all the time. She had told her boyfriend this, and Hermes had only laughed and told her about the time his parents gave his friend Ron a dental checkup, or about how Ginny had taken her boyfriend (now husband) to a muggle hospital and thought the doctor was mad because he had asked for a urine sample. 

‘ _ Urine? _ ’ said Draco, horrified. ‘What could someone do with another person’s  _ urine _ ?’

‘Unlike in the magical world, where urine can be used for some very depraved ancient magical no one knows how to do anymore, fortunately,’ said Hermes. ‘Muggles can use urine testing can reveal a lot of things, like drug abuse; several types of diseases such as diabetes or kidney issues; pregnancy in women..’ Hermes counted on his fingers.

Draco wasn’t sure if her boyfriend as telling the truth or making fun of her. ‘You mean to tell me that muggle women piss and take their piss to a hospital when they think they’re pregnant?’ said Draco, thoroughly confused.

‘Well, it’s not like they have a charm they can use,’ said Hermes. ‘But no, it's a test you can use at home.’

Draco raised an eyebrow. ‘I want to see it!’ she declared. ‘Because I’m not sure if I believe you or not.’

Hermes laughed. ‘We’ll go tomorrow,’ he promised. ‘I’ll buy you some books about medicine as well.’ He enjoyed introducing her to the muggle world. They got into fun scientific discussions, though he often had to tell her about things he would have otherwise considered basic knowledge, and she liked going to museums, which neither of his two best friends liked. Ron had gone to them once or twice, but found other parts of the muggle world, such as cinemas and drive-throughs (according to him, they combined two things he enjoyed: driving around in a car and eating. Hermes had suggested that he learned to drive, a suggestion which Ron had not seemed to like much) much more interesting. Harry was always somehow to fidgety in a museum and would want to leave far too soon for Hermes’ liking. And one could go so many times with his parents before they started questioning his love life. Which, fortunately, wasn’t brought up anymore. Hermes had introduced Draco to his parents, and they did indeed admit that he was not makin it up.

However, they were not able to go the next day, as two of Draco’s patients decided to come into the world. She was awoken only an hour after she had gone to bed, after having eaten a late dinner and had a long discussion about quidditch with her boyfriend’s roommate and best friend, Ron and her best friend Daphne, who had to pick up something from Draco and ended up staying to eat. Hermes had retired to bed much earlier, as he had to wake up early for work the next morning (unlike her, who had the entire day off, Hermes only had the afternoon off) and was finding the conversation somewhat boring. 

Draco had to quickly change into her healer’s robes, and apparate to St Mungos, where Iris Bagshawe, her patients’ mother, was delivering said patients. Draco generally did not deliver babies, but Iris’ twins had been cursed while Iris had been four months pregnant, and Draco was the specialist assigned to make sure both the twins and mother faced no ill-effects of the curse. 

The entire birth took significantly longer than births took, but it had been crucial to do it slowly to ensure the safety of mother and twins. There was a large number of medical staff coming in and going to administer pain relieving potions, checking on the children and mother and other necessary actions. Draco, being Iris’ primary healer, had to stay for the entire birth and left St Mungo’s exactly two days later, when everyone was confident that the ill-effects of the curse cast were neutralised, and all three patients were in perfect health. 

Draco had been eating while in the room with her patients, but found that she was famished. After back to her flat, she felt too tired to even eat, and fell asleep on her bed. 

Draco was awoken later by her boyfriend. She had no idea when exactly she had fallen asleep, but she had been fairly sure it was a time when he was supposed to be at work. Hermes was dressed in his pajamas, and she had no idea what he was doing there. Normally, he didn’t arrive at her flat without knowing she would be there, which he couldn’t have, as she herself had had no idea when she would get back from St Mungo’s.

‘Morning,’ he said, smiling. Draco suddenly realised how hungry she was. ‘You were dead to the world when I came home late last night. Ron was looking after Victoire, who was throwing the worst tantrum I’ve ever witnessed. I think she was upset she couldn’t change her hair colour like Teddy. I’m rubbish with children, so I decided to sleep here for the night.’

‘Oh,’ said Draco, slowly. She couldn’t concentrate beyond her hunger, but soon both of them were eating eggs and toast with jam, sitting at her breakfast bar.

‘You have more jam than you have toast.’ Hermes told his girlfriend. ‘It's not good for your teeth. Jam has lots of sugar in it.’

‘And fruit,’ said Draco. ‘Fruit is healthy. And I  _ like _ jam.’

‘You’re only one step away from using a spoon to eat the jam with,’ chided Hermes.

Draco ignored her boyfriend, and took a larger bite of her toast. She spotted a small bag on her counter, one that looked like was from a muggle shop of some kind. ‘What’s that?’ she asked, pointing her toast at the bag.

‘Oh that has the pregnancy tests in it,’ said Hermes. 

‘We’re doing that today?’ asked Draco, still feeling a bit tired.

‘Well, I told Ron, and he was curious,’ said Hermes. ‘And then he told Fred and George, who went with me to buy them, and they ended up buying ten. And now the entire Weasley family knows, so Ron will have them all at Harry’s flat waiting for us.’

Draco blinked. 

‘It's become kind of a spectacle,’ said Hermes. ‘I find it charmingly funny and annoying at the same time.’ He looked closely at her. 'You have some jam on your nose.’ He leaned close to her and removed it with his finger, and sucked the finger clean. Draco slipped off the barstool, and put away the plates to wash them later.

Hermes was looking was at the small piece of metal he always seemed to have on his person that he called a phone. He had offered to show her how to use it, but Draco had been wary, inexplicably wondering how something so small could possibly provide him hours of entertainment. He looked up and stared at her thoughtfully.

‘How was your patient?’ he asked her. 

‘There is nothing less I want to talk about at the moment,’ said Draco, walking back towards him. ‘I know I’m supposed to be a healer, but I abhor pregnancy. I have no idea how there are healers who can deal with it on a day-to-day basis.’

‘You know that we’re supposed to go to Harry’s house next, where everyone wants to see how a pregnancy test works, right?’ said Hermes, pulling her towards him.

‘Mmm,’ muttered Draco, putting her arms around her boyfriend’s neck. She lightly kissed his lips. She felt him smile against her lips. She leaned in to kiss him again, when she heard a sound come from the floo in the fireplace in her bedroom.

Draco sprang back suddenly, almost as if she had been shocked. She couldn’t fathom who was in her flat on a Saturday morning. It couldn’t have been her parents because they were holidaying in Paris, and Draco was stricken with the thought of what would happen if her parents found about her boyfriend.

Hermes, sensing his girlfriend’s fear, got up from his seat to see who it was, but before he could, the visitor announced herself. 

‘Draco you needn’t keep on spluttering like that,’ said Pansy Parkinson, walking towards Draco’s kitchen cabinets, looking for food as she was wont to. ‘I’m certainly not going to tell your parents about your...extracurricular activities.’

‘We’re not in school anymore, Pansy,’ said Draco.

‘Nice to see you too, Parkinson,’ Hermes greeted her at the same time.

‘Do you have any of that shortbread?’ asked Pansy, looking around in the cabinet.

‘There should be some in the one on your left,’ said Draco. She paused as Pansy rooted around her cabinets and found what she was looking for. ‘What are you doing here, anyway, Pansy? I didn’t think you woke up before ten these days.’

‘Its eleven o’clock, I’ll have you know,’ Draco was informed curtly. ‘So you and Granger are the ones who are the late risers.’ She looked at them with a suggestive look in her eyes. ‘Long night?’

‘Long week,’ said Draco, grumpily.

Pansy finished her shortbread and started looking around Draco’s house, as she tended to. ‘Oooh what’s that?’ she asked, walking towards the bag of pregnancy tests.

‘Pansy--don’t..” said Draco, not wanting to open a new can of worms, knowing that Pansy would not know what a muggle pregnancy test was and not feeling at all in the mood to explain.

‘Draco Narcissa Malfoy!’ screeched Pansy, sounding simultaneously horrified, intrigued and authoritative. ‘How could you be so stupid! What will you tell your parents when you pop out a miniature Granger who’ll start waving petitions in people’s faces and be entirely taller than seems natural!’

‘It's not for my use!’ squeaked Draco, utterly horrified at the thought of her parents finding out anything of the sort. 

‘Then why do you have it!’ demanded Pansy, looking through the bag. ‘And why are there so many of them!’

It took ten minutes for both Hermes and Draco to explain the situation to Pansy and for her to stop screaming. 

‘What I’m curious about is how you even know what a pregnancy test is,’ said Hermes. 

“Well, I’m not an ignorant pureblood, as you seem to think,’ said Pansy curtly. 

Draco snorted.

Pansy glared at her. ‘Well, if you must know,’ she admitted. ‘I was in a precarious situation where my wand broke. Hannah Abbott, who works at the Leaky Cauldron, where I was getting drunk off my arse to try and forget the mess I was in, offered to help. The muggle-lover had no idea how to perform the charm to find out, so she bought me one of these from muggle London. I wanted to kiss her when the device said NEGATIVE.’ She twirled one of the small cardboard boxes in her hands. ‘The one she gave me looked different from this one, thought.’

‘Why didn’t you just teac her the charm?’ asked Hermes. 

Pansy sniffed. ‘I was drunk,’ she said. ‘And besides, it was easier for her to fetch me one of these rather than risk her use the spell imperfectly and get the wrong result.’

‘It’s not that difficult of a spell, Pans,’ said Draco.

‘Says the healer,’ said Pansy. She sniffed. ‘I thought I would faint at the thought of you and Granger spawning a child. Then again, based on the position I saw you in, I’d say you’re getting well on it.’

‘We keep getting interrupted by you,’ said Hermes, which was rather forward of him, but he had just been called every name Pansy could think of to offend any children the two of them could have had, including ‘insufferable know-it-alls whose professors at Hogwarts will count the days until their graduation’; ‘unnaturally tall rule-loving bushy-haired freaks’ and many, many, many insults about his height, which Draco had no idea offended Pansy. 

‘I dunno Hermes,’ teased Draco. ‘I feel like its not worth it anymore. Why does our fictional child only have your annoying qualities? What if I want an unnaturally tall, know-it-all child who is blonde and extremely attractive and perfect in every way such as myself?’

‘What if I don’t want a tall child,’ said Hermes. 

‘Take it up with your parents,’ said Draco. 

‘As interesting as it is to talk about your prospective children,’ said Pansy, in a voice that showed exactly how uninteresting she found it. ‘I didn’t come here to talk about babies. I barely escaped the one in my house.’

This led to Pansy regaling them with with pureblood gossip that Hermes never thought he would have needed to know: Blaise had just as many lovers as his mother, but unlike her, he had multiple at once, rather than going through them quickly like his mother did; Marcus Flint had almost run away and married a Ukrainian witch but the threat of his inheritance had stopped him (evidently the elder Flints seemed to hate the Ukraine for some reason no one seemed to understand); the indigressions of each and every single ministry official Hermes saw at work (Pansy was also very knowledgeable about how many of them hated him and his efforts for the betterment of all magical creatures) and many other things she possibly shouldn’t have know. Including intricate workings at the ministry. 

‘You can’t possibly know that!’ protested Hermes, when Pansy hinted that the next minister of magic was likely to be chosen from one of the heads of departments. ‘I didn’t even know Kingsley was going to step down, if what you’re saying is true’

‘It is absolutely true,’ said Pansy, but refused to tell who her sources were. Draco was privately sure it was one of her lovers. All she would say was that she always made sure she was informed. Hermes prodded and tried to find out, but was unsuccessful. Pansy was the most stubborn person Draco knew. 

This somehow resulted in Pansy telling Draco and Hermes more details about one of her boyfriends than either of them had ever wanted to know, making them very, very glad when it was time for them to go to Grimmauld place.

* * *

 

Grimmauld place was much brighter than Draco remembered, and there were no severed heads or crazy Black aunts thankfully. There, waiting for them, was probably every single Weasley, starting from Arthur all the way to Victoire (unless one counted the one growing in Fleur’s growing stomach).

The house was in absolute madness, as they had decided to have Sunday dinner at Grimmauld place for the first time. Harry and Ron and Bill were helping Molly and Arthur in the kitchen, as George and Charlie and Angelina were looking at what seemed to be new Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes merchandise. There was a large pile of stuffed animals on the rug on the floor of the large room, near which on a sofa lay a sleeping and very pregnant Fleur. Ginny had Victoire in her arms, and seemed to be arguing with Fred about something.

‘I can’t imagine why so many of you are here just to understand how a silly muggle device works when you can just use a spell,’ said Pansy, as she sashayed into the room. 

‘Well, you’re here,’ said Ginny, whizzing by on a broom  _ indoors _ with Victoire, who was screaming at the top of her lungs. 

‘Anywhere is better than with at home with a crying baby,’ said Pansy, glowering at Fleur asleep on the sofa in front of the fireplace, as if her pregnancy had somehow contributed to her woes. ‘Don’t have children, Draco. Your parents might have offered to raise it for you, but it’s a  _ trap _ .’

Hermes made a face. ‘But you’re only 22,’ he said, perplexed. 

‘Wizards generally have children younger than muggles do,’ said Mrs Weasley, entering the room and placing something on the large dinner table, and looking at Hermes’ girlfriend as if she wasn’t very sure of her. The feeling seemed to be mutual. ‘Arthur and myself, we were both 20 when Bill was born. Our parents seemed to think us silly because we’d waited a year after we married to have children.’ A call from the kitchen beckoned her back. 

‘They also followed suit and now instead of enjoying the grandchild they have and are about to have, hound us for more,’ said Charlie, sweeping in with Victoire on his hip. He seemed to be in a silent battle with Ginny over spending time with Victoire, which made sense to Hermes as both of them were the ones most frequently away from home. In fact, he was surprised to see Ginny there as he knew it was a busy time for her, but Hermes supposed she shared some of her father’s intrigue involving muggle objects and devices.

‘Charlie, don’t bother the poor lad,’ said George, from where he was in the corner of the room with Angelina. ‘There’s no need to pressure him!’

‘Pressure him?’ said Pansy, not used to the Weasleys. She had a slightly harrowed look in her eyes.

‘My parents were in their late thirties,’ said Hermes. ‘And shouldn’t wizards have children older than muggles, seeing as they live much longer?’

‘Oh you needn’t worry about that,’ said Fred, sashaying inside. ‘He needs to choose which one of us he likes most first.’

‘What?’ ejaculated Pansy.

‘Rita Skeeter wrote an article about my “indiscretions”, as she calls them,’ he said, groaning.

‘Apparently Harry is dating both myself and Hermes at the same time,’ said Ginny. ‘Or so the Daily Prophet thinks.’

‘And darling Hermes is in a love...er pentagon between myself, Ronniekins, the great Harry Potter, international quidditch player Viktoria Krum, and probably twenty more people,’ said Fred cheerfully. ‘Rita Skeeter is an expert, she would know best of course.’

‘You forgot George,’ supplied Angelina, grinning.

Fred put his hand on his heart and gasped. ‘How could I forget my own twin?’ he said. He put his arms on top of one another and looked up towards the ceiling, as if asking for some kind of divine forgiveness.

‘That shameless muggleborn boy, that Hermes,’ said Harry, grinning, and coming into the room with another container identical to Molly’s. ‘Forget brothers, he’s willing to date twins.’

The floo sounded again, and the two people they had been waiting for last, Percy and his wife Audrey, had arrived.

‘Oh, and how could we forget Percy!’ said George. ‘According to Ms Skeeter, you two seem to be the closest of chums. Apparently our dear brother is the black sheep of the family and it is truly Hermes who can understand him.’

‘Their relationship goes beyond the confines of friendship apparently,’ said Audrey. 

‘Audrey!’ said Percy, aghast.

‘What’s going on?’ said Ron, returning to the lounge with his parents and Bill, evidently done with whatever they had been doing in the kitchen.

‘The article Skeeter wrote about Hermes,’ supplied Ginny, trying to snatch her niece from Charlie.

‘Daddy!’ said Victoire, escaping both of them and running into her father’s arms. 

Molly huffed. ‘That depraved woman!’ she said. ‘She and her readers just want scandals, never the truth!’

‘Who was it this time?’ asked Ron, wryly.

‘All of them,’ said Bill, grinning, and they all turned to stare at him in disbelief. ‘What? All of you read the article, why is it so surprising that I have as well?’

‘I have to say, mate,’ said Ron. ‘You’re a lot more easygoing now with this Skeeter business. Harry and I were worried you would find her informant and injure her permanently or something.’

‘He gets angry at ministry officials now,’ said Draco. ‘That, and he’s stopped reading the gossip pages after they tried to insinuate he went to Krum’s wedding as anything other than a friend.’ Draco would never admit it to anyone, but she was very, very thankful that Viktoria Krum was married. Draco was not good at curbing any kind of jealousy.

‘That’s old news, though,’ said Harry, with terribly annoying grin on his face. ‘So who is your actual true love, Hermes?’

‘Harry!’ said Molly, so loudly that Fleur seemed to be disrupted. 

‘I don’t understand why they always seem to think you’re involved with men, Hermes,’ said Arthur, joining in for the first time.

‘Dad, do you mean to say that the night Hermes and I spent in Barcelona three years ago meant nothing?’ said George. ‘Of course that night in question, I was actually minding my business and closing the shop and it was actually Charlie and Hermes both working in Barcelona?’

‘I can actually answer that,’ said Pansy. ‘It was Demelza Robbins. She was the one who made the suggestion to Skeeter. Said that Granger and Weasley hated one another, and then they didn’t, so there must have been something romantic going on.’

‘It might have been best if you hadn’t told Hermes that,’ joked Harry, but looking at Hermes 

somewhat warliy. 

‘No one’s heard from her in years, though there are rumours she lives in Thailand now,’ said Pansy. ‘As a  _ muggle _ , no less.’ She sniffed. 

‘Can we do what we came here for now?’ interjected Ginny. ‘I have to portkey back to Gibraltar in less than two hours.’

At this everyone scrambled to the master bedroom for use of its toilet, leaving Harry, who seemed to be the least curious one of them all to witness how a pregnancy test demonstration, with Victoire in the lounge. Hermes had never used or been present, he supposed, when someone had used a pregnancy test, but with Pansy’s help, of all people, they were successfully able to show how the device changed once Fleur (behind a closed toilet door) had urinated on it. Hermes was very glad that Ron and the twins had bought so many, because nearly everyone seemed to want to try it out. He wondered what his mother would think of the situation he was in. 

‘Mr Weasley, even if you use one, it's not going to change at all,’ said Hermes, weary. 

‘Maybe if I polyjuice into a woman and get pregnant, this test would work,’ mused Fred.

‘I don’t think you can get pregnant in an hour,’ said Bill.

‘George happens to make a very fertile woman,’ said Fred.

‘You’d get pregnant just so you’d get a positive in a pregnancy test?’ asked Angelina, as Molly and Arthur left to set the food.

‘Think about what the Daily Prophet would say about that,’ Ron muttered. 

‘Even better!’ said Fred. He turned to his sister. ‘Ginny do you think Harry could--'

‘CERTAINLY NOT,’ Ginny cut off her brother.

‘I don’t know how you can stand all this,’ said Pansy to Draco. She appareated away without another word, before Draco could say anything. 

An hour later, they all found themselves around Harry’s large kitchen table, just finished with their food. Most were about to leave when Harry ran back inside. 

‘Don’t leave anyone!’ she said, holding two of the tests in her hand. She looked somewhat panicked.

‘Harry!’ said Ron. ‘Those have urine on them!’

‘I used scourify on them!’ said Harry, panting. ‘Everyone, look!’

It was then that Hermes noticed that both tests had turned pink from blue, as the instructions had said they would.

Most of the people in the room stared at him.

‘Go on,’ said Charlie, expectantly.

‘Two of these tests are positive,’ said Harry. A collective look of surprise came over the faces of everyone in the room.

‘Well, one of zem is mine,’ said Fleur.

‘Who does the other one belong to then?’ asked Arthur, looking at Hermes as if he was supposed to know.

This led to scramble where Draco, as the healer in the room, performed pregnancy charms on every single female in the room. Draco was feeling somewhat harrowed herself. What if it was her? How would she explain this to her parents? What  _ could  _ she explain to her parents? I’ve been in a relationship with a muggleborn I used to hate but now cannot imagine life without? And we’re having a baby. That was a conversation Draco never wanted to have, but as her relationship kept progressing, she worried about it more and more. She knew Hermes wanted her to tell them, but she had absolutely no idea how to. They let her do whatever she wanted, but there were certainly limits to her freedom, and she had gone beyond her limits long ago. The sick feeling in her stomach increased more and more as she used the spell on another person, and they were not pregnant. Ginny, who kissed her husband and said goodbye to her parents and siblings and left in a hurry, after being promised to be told who it was; Angelina, who winked at George, and said ‘Johnson’. It was only when she reached Audrey and the spell confirmed her pregnancy that Draco let out a breath she did not know she was holding in. 

‘Healthy foetus,’ said Draco, after she had given her a small checkup. ‘You should be about 6 weeks into your pregnancy. You should visit St Mungo’s tomorrow and get an appointment with a maternity healer, and have all questions answered about your baby--’ she stopped, remembering an incident when she accidentally told a couple the gender of their unborn child a year previously, and how  _ furious _ they had been. ‘I can tell you if your baby is a boy or girl, if you want.’

Audrey looked up from where she was lying down on the sofa to her husband. She shook her head. ‘Maybe not just yet,’ she said. ‘I don’t think we expected to have a child so  _ soon _ . We’ve only been married two months.’

Draco nodded. ‘Why don’t you two go home and talk about it,’ she said. ‘Just schedule an appointment with a maternity healer and they should be able to help you with whatever questions you should have.’

Audrey nodded, and left only a few minutes later with her husband, as did everyone else. Draco and Hermes apparated back to Hermes and Ron’s flat, as Ron was staying with Harry for a bit longer. 

‘I have had enough of pregnancy,’ Draco told her boyfriend, as she was curled up next to him on his sofa. ‘There has been too much pregnancy this week.’

‘You probably shouldn’t have become a healer then,’ he quipped, very unhelpfully.

Draco made a grumbling noise, but did not say anything else. She was more worried about her parents. They were coming back on the weekend, and the time they had been away had meant she could freely see her boyfriend. She wanted to see him as just freely, but knew that she couldn’t get everything she wanted. Knowing that she couldn’t go on without telling her parents for very long, she was very aware of the implosion that was waiting for her in the future. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Expect to see Draco's parents in the next chapter, as things will be getting more serious as the story goes on. It will still be funny, but Draco will have to come out of her bubble and realise she needs to do something about her parents as she and Hermes become even closer.  
> Come see me on tumblr: http://anarchistslullaby.tumblr.com/


	4. Chapter 4

‘Easy, mate,’ said Ron to his best friend, who had been pacing around in their flat ever since he had come back home from work, where he probably hadn’t been much better. Draco’s parents had come back from France and Draco was spending the weekend with them at Malfoy Manor. In the months they had been away, her and Hermes’ relationship had progressed much faster than either of them had anticipated, and so Draco was going to gently broach the idea that she was seeing someone to her parents. ‘Thinking about it won’t really make a difference,’ said Ron, gently.

It had surprised Ron that Hermes’ and Draco’s relationship had gone on for so long, or how it had even started in the first place. Both him and Harry had expected it to dissipate quickly, and were frankly astounded that it had gone on for so long. Harry was sure Hermes was in love, and Ron had agreed he probably was. But Hermes was sensible, and take care of himself and Draco had seemed alright. Like most children of former death eaters, she had mostly kept to herself, but she had been quite unpleasant as a child when there had been any interactions. Fortunately, they were all older now and much more mature.

Hermes glared at Ron, but didn’t say much. He had been feeling this way, and all he wanted to do was storm into Malfoy Manor and dare Draco’s parents to oppose their relationship, which was a  _ terrible _ idea. Truthfully, he felt powerless and he  _ hated _ it. He wanted to freely date his girlfriend, but he knew that Draco could very likely be made to chose between a relationship with his parents and him. And he secretly worried she would leave him. He thought that he wouldn’t have to deal with all the nonsense to do with his blood status in his adult life, owing to a changed and much more progressive magical world, under minister of magic Kingsley Shacklebolt, but he had been wrong. Then again, he had never expected to be dating someone like Draco. 

‘I’m well aware, Ronald,’ said Hermes, with a little more force than necessary. He paused. ‘But I can’t take my mind off it either.’

‘We could go to Harry’s,’ offered Ron.

Hermes shook his head. ‘Ginny has the weekend off after months,’ he said. ‘We should let them have time to themselves.’

The two of them ate dinner, and Hermes tried to concentrate on something other than the fact that his girlfriend was currently spending the weekend with her parents, who hated his existence. If he had to be honest with himself, he was purely worried she would break up with him, and he liked Draco too much for him to be alright with that.

* * *

 

On the other side, Draco wasn’t doing much better. She had never felt so  _ jittery _ in her own home, a place she had always regarded with fondness. The house seemed entirely and unnecessarily too big; too grand. The house elves (that her father now was not allowed to punish physically and would soon grudgingly have to pay, courtesy of her boyfriend) seemed to be  _ everywhere _ and they looked absolutely miserable. Had there always been so many? She hadn’t really visited home properly since she and Hermes had started dating, but it had certainly never seemed so different after she had started living in London, in a flat her mother had detested and refused to visit, saying it was entirely too small. At first it had peeved her slightly, but now it worked entirely in her favour. The aforementioned entirely too small flat was almost twice as large as the one her boyfriend shared with his friend. 

She had never anticipated that one person coming into her life could change her so much. She had always considered her views different from her parents, but she had never realised how much she had always taken for granted about wizard culture; how much she had been apathetic to. Like when her father mentioned seeing Draco’s mother’s grandson, Teddy (whom Draco had met on several occasions and thought a lovely, if somewhat mischievous child) when he visited the Ministry once, and her mother had sneered and called Teddy ‘a disgusting little half-breed, but it was no wonder since Andromeda had strayed away’ and mentioned the gossip about her parentage, which Draco had  _ not _ been aware of, and it had made Draco feel slightly ill. She mentioned this later to both Pansy and Daphne, who did not seem surprised in the slightest. 

‘Well, you did choose to date the most famous muggleborn,’ said Daphne, that weekend in Draco’s room when she and Pansy had come over to Malfoy Manor with their parents for tea. ‘I personally think it's great.’

‘Well my parents won’t!’ said Draco. ‘Your parents don’t really care and you’re only second to the Weasleys’ when it comes to being a blood traitor!’

‘Have you at least told them you’re dating  _ someone _ ?’ asked Daphne, pulling out some kind of strange muggle snack. Draco was sure she ventured into the muggle world more than her boyfriend did. She offered some to Pansy, who refused and Draco, who tried one and had absolutely no idea what she was eating.

‘I thought of it, but they’ll demand to know who,’ said Draco. ‘And they’ll start to plan a wedding. They’re still purebloods!’ 

‘Well I like Hermes,’ said Daphne, as if it changed anything.

‘You like most people,’ said Draco. ‘Pans, you’ve been quiet. What should I do?’

‘Frankly, I never expected it to end up like this,’ said Pansy, looking at Draco as if she shouldn’t have expected better from her. ‘But seeing as you seem to be incapable of having a casual relationship, you’re going to end up with your parents effectively disowning you.’ She paused. ‘Personally, I don’t understand why you care so much about what your parents think that you would consider pretending you’re married someone else, which will be difficult because the two of you are the grossest honeymoon-y couples I have ever met and you’ve been together for a year now.’

‘11 months,’ interrupted Draco.

Pansy glared at her. ‘Yes, whatever,’ she said, rolling her eyes. ‘You’re only supporting what I’m saying, Draco. You’re completely head-over-heels for that annoyance of a boy. I have no idea what you see in him. You should just tell them.’

‘Like that would end well,’ protested Daphne.

‘They’ll find out eventually,’ said Pansy. ‘From Draco or otherwise. My money is on Granger marching up to them and announcing it before the weekend is over.’

‘You’ve bet on this?’ asked Draco.

‘They’d just laugh,’ said Daphne, wisely. ‘They trust Draco too much for that. Unless she tells them herself or they find out through someone authentic or trustworthy enough, Lucius and Narcissa won’t believe it.’

Pansy took a sip of her tea. ‘He must be good if you’re getting this worked up over him,’ she said, more to herself than to Daphne or Draco.

Draco groaned. ‘Pansy!’ she exclaimed, as Daphne giggled. ‘This is serious!’

They were not able to continue, as one of the house elves, Dippy, apparated into the room and announced that Mistress Narcissa wanted them all in the lounge. Following the elf, Draco decided that by the end of the weekend she would at least tell her parents that she was in a relationship with someone, however casual she was inevitably going to try and make it sound.

* * *

 

‘I don’t know which one of the two of you are more on edge,’ commented Ron, looking at his brother and roommate, both sitting on the table, full plates of dinner in front of them. He sighed. ‘I’m afraid if I leave you two alone, there might be an explosion.’ Hermes had been pacing all day and Percy had been hastily shoved into Ron’s flat by a very annoyed Bill. Evidently, Audrey had sent him to Bill’s house after the two of them had their most recent checkup, and he was being too overbearing and it was getting on her nerves. Ron considered asking Fred or George, or maybe one of their parents to come calm at least one of them, but he wasn’t sure if they’d be of any help. His mother would just want to focus on the baby, which was decidedly  _ not _ what Percy needed at the moment (he was currently giving Hermes a very detailed account of childbirth; Hermes seemed to have forgotten about Draco at the moment and was telling Ron’s brother about something called a  _ c-section _ , which seemed to make Percy even more on edge); Fred or George would make jokes about the situation and George would only add to the conversation, as Angelina’s older sister had just had a baby and Ron sure about his father would help calm Percy, but then would get swept in whatever muggle medical thing Hermes was talking about and would make Percy freak out all over again. 

He considered leaving them, but was sure it would end it some form of disaster. He wondered if there was someone else he could call. Neville? He was nervous enough of a person and probably would just exacerbate the situation further. Not to mention he was doing auror training somewhere. Luna? Ron wasn’t sure if she was in Britain or not, and even if she were, she would just start telling them about whatever new magical creature she’d discovered. It might distract them at least. Someone had told him Cho Chang had become a healer. Maybe seeing Harry’s ex-girlfriend would surprise them enough to forget their woes for a few minutes.

Or maybe he could just ask Fred to come. Ironically, he seemed least threatening of Ron’s choices. Ron shook his head. He knew what the real problem with Hermes was. It was his second relationship, and longest ever, and a very complicated one. Hermes was only worried Draco was going to leave him out of fear for her parents. Ron could see the two were head-over-heels for one another, and he had been the least surprised him that their relationship had progressed so far; having had a front-row seat to their entire relationship had also helped. Ron sighed, and sincerely hoped the two of them worked out, although he was rightly dubious of Lucius and Narcissa. It was going to be a long weekend for him..

* * *

 

Draco felt as if she had escaped from Azkaban once the weekend was over. She had made it through three days with her parents, something she never could have imagined thinking. She had also been able to muster the courage to tell her parents that she was seeing  _ someone _ , and they had seemed surprisingly open to the idea, which somehow made her feel worse. 

‘Oh that’s wonderful darling!’ said Narcissa, looking delighted. ‘Is it someone we know?’ 

‘Even if we don’t,’ said Lucius. ‘I am confident that our daughter would choose someone of the best kind of wizarding breeding. Isn’t that correct, Draco?’

‘Yes of course father,’ said Draco trying to look as earnest as possible.

‘That’s absolutely lovely!’ said Narcissa, as two house elves brought large baskets full to the brim with food for Draco; her parents worried that their daughter spent too much time working and neglected to eat properly. Draco bit her tongue from saying that she indeed had been neglecting her diet in the past, but her boyfriend made sure she ate properly with almost dictator-like rigorousness. ‘You must bring him around for tea soon.’

‘I have a few heavy weeks of work,’ lied Draco. ‘I’m scheduled for mostly night shifts, and he also works, but I’ll try my best.’ 

Her parents nodded, much more open to the idea that she was dating someone of her own choosing, rather than someone they picked out for her, as had been for them and their parents before them. Pansy’s warnings about them pressuring her to have a child went through her brain.

‘I suppose his parents know as well?’ said Lucius, as if it didn’t much matter to him. 

Draco nodded. ‘I think so,’ she answered, very clearly remembering the many times she met Hermes’ parents and how they seemed to be the exact opposite of her parents in ideals and the way they lived, and how much they seemed to like her, which Draco  _ knew _ was not going to be reciprocated on her parents’ end. She looked at the watch on her arm. ‘Thank you for the food, Mother, Father. I must be going now.’

‘Take care of yourself darling,’ said Narcissa, as Draco stood in the floo, ready to leave. ‘Make sure you bring the young man you are seeing with yourself when you come next.’

However, Draco pushed these thoughts on the back of her mind and heaved a sigh of relief. She was home and all she wanted to do was see her boyfriend. She sincerely hoped he was there and not at his own flat, where there always seemed to be a large number of people. She liked most of Hermes’ friends, but she did not particularly feel like seeing anyone at the moment.

Fortunately, said boyfriend was reading a large book, seated on the sofa in front of her fireplace. Draco smiled as her stood up to hug her; only her boyfriend would find the idea of coming home and reading large fat books on obscure subjects no one cared about relaxing. 

‘Draco,’ he smiled and hugged her, after she put down the two baskets of food on the table in front of the sofa. She leaned into him, and for a few moments, both of them forgot their worries. Hermes gripped her tightly, as if he had been afraid she wasn’t coming back.

‘I was afraid your parents would make you break up with me,’ he admitted to her a few minutes later, as he sat on her bed and she put on her nightclothes. ‘Or that after you told them, they would lock you somewhere in Malfoy Manor and I’d have to break in and save you.’

‘Well, I haven’t told my parents exactly,’ said Draco, quickly performing a scourgify on the clothes she had been wearing that day and folding them. Hermes stayed silent. She put the robes in her cupboard. ‘They know I’m dating someone now, but I haven’t told them who. Unfortunately, now they’re demanding I bring you along with me next time I see them.’

Hermes made a face as Draco snuggled into her bed next to him. Hermes kissed her temple, and said, ‘I don’t think it would end very well.’

Draco grimaced. ‘I think they think I’m going out with Blaise or Theo or someone else they deem acceptable that has a job,’ admitted Draco. 

‘What is it with racist purebloods and never earning a living?’ said Hermes, rhetorically. Draco put her hands around his neck and kissed him.

‘I can’t imagine my parents working,’ admitted Draco, when they stopped to breathe. ‘I don’t even know what kinds of jobs they would have. My father, not being able to do whatever he wants to at his leisure is frankly, bewildering. I could imagine my mother having a job before him.’

‘Mmm,’ said Hermes, kissing her deeper, his hands touching her face, as if he was still afraid she would leave. 

‘So what did you do all weekend?’ asked Draco, unbuttoning his shirt. 

‘Not much,’ said Hermes. ‘I spent most of it at home with Ron, who is thoroughly done with me and would have left me with Harry if he could have. Then Bill dropped off Percy yesterday, because he was getting annoyed by how nervous and obsessive Percy was being about child-rearing, and he’d accidentally made both girls cry. Ron tried to take us flying on a broom, but I refused.’

‘I think every single person you know likes flying brooms,’ muttered Draco, as Hermes softly kissed her neck. She took a deep breath. ‘But Hermes..’

Hermes looked up and looked at her from eye level. ‘Yes?’ he said, already very sure of what he was going to say.

‘I think I’m going to tell my parents when I see them next time,’ said Draco, trying to ignore the dread pooling in her stomach. 

Hermes nodded. ‘That’s good,’ he said. ‘But do you think you’re ready for what will inevitably happen next?’

‘I don’t think I’ll ever be,’ admitted Draco. ‘But I don’t want you with me. I’d much rather do it myself.’

Hermes nodded. ‘I’m here for you,’ he said, taking her hands in his. ‘I’ll always be’. He hugged her tightly, and they stayed there for a little while, both of them dreading what the future held; Draco anticipating her parents’ reactions and Hermes running through every single scenario, ranging from likeliest to practically impossible. Unfortunately, neither of them would have able to predict what was going to unfold in the next two days.

* * *

 

‘Granger!’ hollered Angelina Johnson, from the lounge, evidently just having flooed over. ‘Is Malfoy with you?’

‘HERMES!’ yelled George Weasley, as they both rushed into his room, both looking half-ready for work. George wore his uniform, but his hair was a mess and there was toothpaste on his chin that he seemed to not have noticed. Behind him came Angelina, who was still in her pajamas and looked as if she had been doing her hair before the two of them suddenly decided to come to his flat for no discernible reason. 

‘What’s going on?’ asked Hermes, perplexed, halfway through buttoning his shirt.

‘THIS!’ Fred brandished the newspaper that had been in his had in Hermes’ face, and Hermes’ face fell. On the cover of the newspaper were several pictures of him and Draco; one of them featured them kissing; another had one where Draco smiled at him for something he said; another had them holding hands looking completely unaware of the fact that they were being photographed and were to expect an article written by the lovely Rita Skeeter and the likely implosion it would cause. The pictures were from the day before, when both of them had decided to go out and eat ice cream. It had been dark, and there had been enough people out that it didn't seem like anyone would spot them. They had been regrettably wrong.

“ _ MALFOY AND GRANGER: CHILDHOOD FOES TURNED UNLIKELY LOVERS _ ” read the newspaper. Hermes was ready to kill Rita Skeeter in that moment, but he was sure that telling Draco was more pertinent. He vaguely heard someone else coming through his floo, probably about the pictures. Hermes had no idea what was going to happen, but soon all the magical people in Britain would know about the two of them.  


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! I was honestly so swept up in university and I wasn't sure if anyone was really reading so I just...stopped. I intend to update regularly from now on, I promise.

Narcissa Malfoy (née Black) was a woman who could safely say she was content with her life. She had a lovely daughter who had surpassed any expectations anyone could have had for her and a devoted husband who loved her dearly. While it was true that the wizarding world had changed after the demise of the Dark Lord more than twenty years ago, Narcissa had always chosen to see things in a positive light. True, it positively sickened her to see muggleborns and half-breeds roaming so freely in her world, and she saw more and more purebloods lines in the danger of dying out or in shambles of their former glory, but her husband had managed not to go to Azkaban for his crimes and her daughter, Draco, was accepted by modern wizarding society, who had become wary of purebloods like herself and her husband that had been amongst the ranks of the Dark Lord, due to her work as a healer. Narcissa had never expected to have a daughter with a profession, much less one as demanding as a healer, but she supposed that she would have to make concessions in their changing society. It had been a wise decision for her and her husband, for while they were only given acceptance due to their heavy pockets, Draco was doing much better than them.

This particular morning, Narcissa was having her tea in their lounge, which overlooked her flower garden, and wondered where her husband was. He always had tea with her in the morning, unless he had other pressing matters, and Narcissa could count on her fingers how many times that had been in the last ten years. She finished her tea slowly, after Tilly the house elf informed her that Lucius was in his study.

She slowly ventured up the stairs, wondering what was so important that it kept Lucius in his study so early in the morning. Lucius had comings and goings, certainly, but none so important that they would cause him to miss his morning tea and breakfast. Nothing and no one was important enough to disrupt their lives.

The door was slightly cracked open, and Narcissa could spy her husband’s face inside the study. He was most certainly _fuming_. Narcissa couldn’t remember the last time she had seen her husband like this, even on the night when the Dark Lord was vanquished, nearly 22 years ago.

‘Narcissa,’ said Lucius, a she entered the door. He seemed to not know what to do with himself, and in his state of utter rage, in between deep breaths, he handed her a copy of the Daily Prophet, which seemed to be the cause of his anger.

Narissa glanced on the newspaper and saw red. Her daughter! Something needed to done. And swiftly.

* * *

Draco had been work an especially long shift, owing to the fact that there had been in sudden crisis in the department of potions and plant poisoning an hour before she was due to get off. The entire third floor was run amok by a rapidly spreading rash due to a strange foreign plant no one could identify that someone had left near the reception desk. They had to cordon off the entire floor and ensure that the crisis was swiftly dealt with, which also involved calling the aurors and Professor Sprout. Draco had imagined that there might be a chance of her meeting her former teacher as a patient, but had never considered it in a professional capacity. It was harrowing, to say the least.

Draco was completely exhausted by the time the crisis had ended and she was able to go home, that she accidentally flew (she liked flying, something she needed to get her boyfriend into more, and she’d gone to work that day by broomstick) to Hermes’ flat instead of her own, but found herself too worn out to go back to her own. Hermes’ flat was empty (he was probably at work, Draco supposed, having no idea what time it was) and she immediately fell into a deep sleep as soon as her head touched his pillow.

Only to be woken a few hours later by the sound of a baby crying and indecipherable whispering. She groaned, and furrowed further into the bed, wondering if she could convince Hermes to start living with her. Why hadn’t she thought of it before? As much as she accepted that Hermes had a roommate who was prone to inviting half his family over at any given time, she felt it shouldn’t interrupt her sleep. Which she sorely needed.

The baby cried for a few moments, and then seemed to have quieted down. Draco felt herself falling back into sleep, until..

‘Um, Draco?’ came the increasingly annoying sound of Ron Weasley.

Draco groaned. ‘Go away,’ she muttered, though not loudly enough for him to hear.

‘There’s a slight crisis,’ came the voice of her friend Daphne. What was she doing there? She was at Hermes’ flat, right? Had she made friends with Hermes’ friends. They were insufferable and Daphne loved those kinds of people. Draco needed to make sure she stopped whatever was happening.  ‘I don’t care what’s wrong with the child,’ said Draco. ‘Take her to St Mungo’s. I’m not a child specialist.’

‘That’s not the problem,’ said the ever-annoying Harry Potter. He needed to find a job, he was at Hermes’ flat far too often. ‘We can’t find Hermes.’

‘What?’ said Draco, not sure she heard him correctly. ‘What do you mean you can’t find him?’

‘After the news, he sort of rushed out of the flat this morning and he didn’t show up for work,’ said Ron Weasley. The baby started crying again. ‘He was also supposed to visit his parents tonight and apparently he won’t answer his muggle fellytone.’ He stumbled on the last words.

‘What news?’ asked Draco, getting up from the bed, and accepting that she was not going to get the rest she needed. She rubbed at her eyes, and found more people than she expected at the foot of the bed. Even stranger, they all seemed to be openly gaping at her.

‘What?’ said Draco, irritably. ‘Have I grown an extra limb?’

One of the two twins (Draco was never sure which), who had the newest Weasley baby attached to his body in some kind of muggle contraption, handed her a copy of the Daily Prophet.

‘What am I supposed to do with this?’ asked Draco, still accepting the newspaper. She looked down to see what she felt was her greatest nightmare come to life.

‘When was this?’ Draco demanded.

‘This morning. How have you not seen this?’ said Daphne.

‘We had to seal an entire department at St Mungo’s,’ said Draco. ‘I must have missed it.’

‘Well, Georgie came by this morning to tell Hermes about it,’ said the twin. ‘And he sort of rushed out and now no one can find him. Used a locator spell and everything.’

‘He might be at my flat,’ said Draco, dubiously.

‘I’ve already checked,’ said Daphne. ‘They also performed a locator spell and everything. Draco….I think..’ she paused. ‘I send Pansy and Blaise to see if they can find out anything.’

‘Like what?’ asked Ron Weasley.

‘Draco,’ said Harry Potter, looking worried. ‘Are you alright? You look as if you might faint.’

‘I think..’ started Draco, unsure. It was very clear where her boyfriend was. She _knew_ it was a possibility, that this could happen but she had just refused to think of it. Her parents were ruthless, and they were cruel. They also loved her and were willing to do whatever it took to “protect” her.

She was spared from answering by the appearance of Pansy’s head in the fireplace.

‘Draco!’ she hollered. Both she and Daphne looked at one another, sensing the urgency in Pansy’s voice.

‘Finally,’ said Pansy’s haughtily head in the fireplace. ‘I’m amazed you didn’t prepare or this sooner. I know Gryffindors like your boyfriend tend to be terribly impulsive, but you should have planned better as soon as the Prophet was published.’

‘I was at work,’ snapped Draco. ‘I only just found out.’

Pansy looked at her, and rolled her eyes. ‘Of course you did,’ she said. ‘And you managed to end up somewhere where none of your _friends_ could find you, so Daphne has to go talk to those imbeciles..’

‘Present!’ said the twin, unable to keep from joking. The baby cried again, and Ron Weasley took her from his brother, glaring it him.

‘We have to find Hermes, Fred!’ he chided. ‘Merlin knows where he is!’

‘I can’t believe I’m saying this,’ said Pansy. ‘But he’s right.’

‘Pansy, stop,’ said Daphne. ‘Do you know where he is?’

‘Well, publicly, your parents are claiming that you’ve been put under the Imperius curse,’ started Pansy.

‘The _Imperius_?’ came a voice from the kitchen. There seemed to be more people than Draco thought.

‘Yes, the Imperius,’ said Pansy. ‘Highly unoriginal, but it worked for many two decades ago. Add onto the fact that no one could find you, they also think you’ve been kidnapped. Blaise also says his mother has plans with your mother, Draco and she failed to show. Not even a hasty apology. His mother thinks your parents are ashamed...but Draco,’ her voice faltered for a second. ‘It’s very likely that they have him in the dungeons. Theo sent over one of his house elves to check, and well..’

‘ _Dungeons_!’ said Harry Potter, aghast.

‘Most old pureblood houses have them,’ said Daphne. ‘But…’

‘No one really uses them,’ said another voice, belonging to Blaise. His face appeared in the fire. ‘Draco, your parents have warded the entire house. Your boyfriend is definitely there, and the only reason they haven’t hurt him is because they’re afraid that any residual harm could come to you. They’re obviously certain that you’ve been cursed by your boyfriend, rather than that you have terrible choice in men. I mean it’s not surprising, but..’

‘We’ve already been to Malfoy Manor,’ said Longbottom, coming in from the kitchen. ‘There’s no one there.’

Pansy rolled her eyes. ‘It’s no wonder it took a baby to stop the Dark Lord,’ she said. ‘If you aurors can’t find a simple person.’

‘There’s no need to make radical plans,’ said Blaise. ‘Draco just needs to go home and tell Mummy and Daddy what she’s been up to.’

‘They think she’s been put under an unforgivable curse!’ said Harry Potter. Draco wished they would just leave. It was nice that they were concerned for their friend, but there wasn’t anything they could do personally. That, and there were far too many of them.

‘They’re purebloods,’ said Ron Weasley. ‘They’ll just lock her up with him.’

‘I agree,’ said Daphne. The baby started to cry again. Draco’s head was starting to ache. What was it with these Weasleys and their communal family-ness? At least only three of them were here.

‘They’ve probably hidden him,’ said Draco, unable to come up with a plan. ‘Those dungeons can go on and on for miles at times. I won’t be able to find him.’

‘I might have an idea,’ said Fred Weasley, the corners of his mouth curved in a grin. ‘One that will easily save our Hermes, and will also ensure that Draco’s parents never speak to her again.’

Draco took a deep breath. ‘It’s already too late to prevent the latter,’ she said.

‘Lovely,’ said Pansy. ‘My life has come to the point where I have to partake in a cocked up plan made by a bumbling pest of Weasley. You so owe me Draco.’

‘She means well,’ said Daphne, to the rest, who remained dubious. ‘She just expresses it differently from others.’

* * *

If it had been any other day, Hermes would have been fascinated by the catacombs under Malfoy Manor. As far as he could tell about his surroundings, the passages seemed to go on as far as he could see. Passages seemingly full of dungeons. One of which he was in.

He had rushed to St Mungo’s as fast as he could. While waiting for Draco to come back from his rounds, he had sat alone in an empty waiting room and had a cup of tea. Hermes considered himself a perfectly capable wizard, but he was certainly not paranoid enough to check if there was something in a cup of tea he bought from St Mungo’s cafeteria.

Then again, he probably should have realised that Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy read the Daily Prophet like the rest of the wizarding community in Britain and would do something like this. He had just been distracted by the fact that his girlfriend’s parents knew and how much it would upset Draco.

Hermes did not like Narcissa and Lucius Malfoy in the slightest. Dating Draco had not changed his opinion about them in the slightest, but he could still sympathise with loving your parents, despite them being horrible people. Horrible enough to lock up her boyfriend in a dungeon so deep underground he could potentially starve in it. At least he was lucky that they weren’t torturing him because they though he had used an _unforgivable curse_ on their daughter. Sometimes Hermes felt sorry for purebloods, they were so deluded that they couldn’t even consider the fact that the world didn’t run the way they expected it to.

‘Where is our daughter?’ demanded a red-faced Lucius Malfoy. ‘Where have you kept her?’

‘Kept her!’ exclaimed Hermes, indignantly. ‘I haven’t kept her anywhere!’

This probably meant that Draco was at his flat, if her parents couldn’t locate her. The others were probably looking for him now, and would had alerted the aurors. Hopefully, he would be be back home soon before the Malfoys decided to involve any kind of torture.

‘Tell us where she is, you filthy mudblood!’ exclaimed Narcissa, looking startlingly like a picture of her older sister, Bellatrix Lestrange, that Hermes had seen in the Daily Prophet, the day after she had died in Azkaban. For some reason, this caused Hermes to lose his cool.

‘I haven’t kept her anywhere!’ yelled Hermes. ‘I don’t know how you can’t wrap around your heads that she and I are in a consensual relationship and that she is perfectly HAPPY! Furthermore, I have no idea how she even turned out the way she did with such horrible people as parents!’

‘Don’t talk about my daughter, you filthy-” began Lucius.

‘The reason you can’t find your daughter is that she may genuinely not want to be found!’ said Hermes. ‘The only thorn in her side was how you both would react to our relationship! Because ever your own daughter can’t see you putting her happiness above your terrible belief that I’m somehow scum. It’s certainly a marvel that she’s not bigoted like the rest if you lot!’

Narcissa picked up her want, about to curse him, but to Hermes’ surprise, Lucius stopped her.

‘Narcissa!’ he said. ‘The pesky mudblood has probably made it that if we harm him, it harms Draco more!’

‘I haven’t performed any kind of spell or curse on your daughter!’ protested Hermes, though this was technically a lie. He had performed the contraceptive charm on her only three days ago, but he didn’t think Lucius and Narcissa needed to hear that. One night at Draco’s flat, where her friends all seemed to come over at some point, Blaise told him that despite her extensive history with men, she absolutely expected him to _court_ someone in the “proper way”, which involved going through the parents and basically not seeing one another in a romantic sense until they were married by wizarding law. It was no wonder purebloods were so deranged and unhinged. Most of wizarding society did not ascribe to such archaic customs (even most purebloods, like the Weasleys or Macmillans), but it just so happened that his girlfriend and her friends were from such families. Later, when he’d asked Ron about pureblood marriage practices, he and his brothers’ faces matched their hair and they couldn’t speak due to their laughter.

‘LIES!’ bellowed Narcissa. She looked like she was about to continue, but was interrupted by the _pop_ sound of a house elf apparating with Pansy Parkinson, who looked utterly unlike the disdainful and haughty girl that was Draco’s friend.

‘Mr and Mrs Malfoy!’ cried Pansy. She sounded completely unlike herself, seeming small, scared and relieved in a way Hermes hadn’t even know she could act. ‘I found Draco! Come quickly!’

She shot him a quick warning glance over her shoulder as she apparated away with Draco’s parents on her heels. Hermes wondered what his 13 year old self would say if he were to tell him that Pansy Parkinson was going to save his life. Then again, a lot of his life hadn’t turned out how he had expected it to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! If you have any comments, please do not hesitate! My tumblr is http://anarchistslullaby.tumblr.com/


	6. Chapter 6

Hermes was rescued only a few seconds after the Malfoys left with Pansy in tow, under the guise that their daughter had been “rescued” from him and his friends. Hermes wished his life sounded less like a dramatic love story, as it was becoming increasingly tiresome and he had enough problems. Besides, he remembered being told at 11 that no such prejudices would bother him at Hogwarts, which had technically been true. McGonagall hadn’t made any promises about his life after Hogwarts, but she probably hadn’t imagined he would grow up to join the Ministry and become the most outspoken Muggleborn alive due to his fierce advocacy against harmful magical traditions and the mistreatment of magical creatures, particularly house elves, or that he would date Draco. Then again, he couldn’t have imagined the latter for himself a year ago. It was strange to think, but he and Draco had been together for almost a year.

As Ron, Harry and Neville undid the enchantments with the practice of three people who had been briefed with what spells to expect to break open the _literal_ dungeon he was locked inside of, he supposed that it was probably time the Malfoys found out what their daughter was up to. It wasn’t like they could keep their relationship a secret. Hermes was generally a private person, and had no wish for any kind of tabloid to know anything about his personal life, but he knew that keeping a relationship secret from one’s parents was not the easiest task, particularly when someone was so close to their parents as Draco.

Hermes fully blamed the tabloids, in particular the works of a certain Rita Skeeter. They really needed to stop, but the last interesting thing before the Triwizard tournament in the fourth year was when Voldemort was finally defeated, more than two decades previously. They had fully expected Harry to take part in the tournament, as if the fact that he was three years younger than the age one was allowed to participate at and completely disinterested was not enough. Hermes was sure there were more articles about how he had supposedly broken Harry’s heart by going out with Viktoria than there were about all three competitors of the tournament, combined. It was frankly disgusting.

Harry and Ron helped Hermes up. ‘Let’s go,’ said Neville, who looked less like the bumbling student he had been in school and what Hermes supposed he looked like while on the job as a auror. ‘Before the Malfoys start to suspect anything is amiss.’

‘I don’t have my wand,’ said Hermes, having felt quite strange to have not had it on his person since the day he bought it from Ollivander’s at the age of 11.

‘Parkinson said she’d bring it back,’ said Harry.

Hermes nodded. ‘And Draco..?’ he inquired.

‘She’s inside the house, mate,’ said Ron. ‘I asked her if she wanted any of us to stay behind, but she said we should just take you back home.’

‘But if you want, we could wait,’ said Harry, sounding very reluctant.

Hermes shook his head. ‘Let’s just go back,’ he said. ‘My presence would only make things worse’. He was also fairly sure Draco could make her way back safely, and it wasn’t like her parents would lock her up and refuse to believe her. Hermes sighed. It felt unlikely, but he had also not expected to spent any number of hours imprisoned in a dungeon deep under Malfoy Manor. He, however, was sure that him rushing to Draco would only worsen whatever was going on upstairs. As much as she was self-absorbed, at least Pansy was upstairs with her.

‘Parkinson and Zabini are with her, so she should be fine,’ reassured Ron. ‘I never thought I’d say that.’

‘That makes two of us,’ agreed Hermes, as they took a portkey out. Because of course, the dungeons had anti-apparition wards. Hermes needed to make sure to mention it to someone in the auror office. It surely couldn’t possibly be allowed.

‘Already ahead of you,’ said Neville, as they all placed a finger on the battered wristwatch Neville had retrieved from his pocket. ‘This house, and all similar pureblood houses will be inspected at once, if I have anything to do about it.’

* * *

Once back at his own flat, Hermes was being fussed over by nearly everyone. His parents had brought along his favourite foods and his were fretting over him, then realising they were being a bit too overbearing, started cleaning his already clean enough flat (‘Dad, the bookshelves are fine, just sit down’) and inquiring from Neville what was to be done about the fact that their son had been _kidnapped_.

‘It’s been so peaceful that kidnappings are practically unheard of now,’ explained Neville. ‘Harry did talk to the auror department when he went to look for Hermes at the Ministry but it was so unthought of that they told him to keep looking and come back tomorrow. You see, the wizarding world is much more peaceful than the muggle world by far.’

‘Yes, but how will you prosecute Draco’s parents?’ asked Hermes’ mother, who still seemed quite shaken up, as she had liked Draco quite a bit, and as Hermes had suspected, had thought her son was being dramatic when he told her about the Malfoys’ bigotry against him. ‘Hermes alway said they were...prejudiced, but I assumed it was akin to….I don’t know...light racism? I never imagined they would do something like this.’

‘Racism?’ said Neville, having never heard of the term.

‘It means disliking someone over the colour of their skin,’ explained Harry.

Nearly half the room looked at Harry as if he had grown another head, and he shrugged.

‘That’s mental,’ said George.

‘Getting back to what’s important,’ said Mr Weasley. ‘Have you written up a report and given it to your superior?’

‘I’m off to the Ministry to do just that,’ said Neville ‘Tonks is at the Manor,and she’s made sure that the Malfoys can’t leave their home. They’ll be brought back to the Ministry. They’ll be charged there.’

Hermes’ father nodded. ‘Will they be needing Hermes to go in and give a statement?’ he asked, looking worriedly at his son as if he were still 13 years old, rather than a 24 year old man with a job and a girlfriend. Then again, Hermes didn’t feel like going anywhere at the moment until he knew his girlfriend was safe.

‘I’m fine, Dad,’ said Hermes.

‘Not at the moment,’ said Neville. ‘But Ron’ll go with me. He’s not an auror anymore, but he was there and his word will be enough for now.’

‘Thank you,’ said Hermes’ mother.

Neville nodded, and propped his coat on, followed by Ron.

‘I’ll be back soon, mate,’ reassured Ron, cringing slightly at the stuffed spider Victoire had handed Hermes, so as not to be outdone by the painting of a purple door with orange spots given to Hermes by Teddy, before the two of them had been taken home as it was getting late.

Hermes nodded. He was being babied, and normally he wouldn’t have allowed for it, but he was very worried. He wanted to know where Draco was.

‘Perhaps we should make our leave as well,’ said Mrs Weasley, where she was standing next to Hermes’ mother, who was the tallest person in the room after her son and towered over the small, redheaded woman ‘I feel like all of us might be suffocating you, Hermes dear.’

‘No, it’s alright,’ said Hermes. ‘To be honest, I never expected this to happen and I suppose I’d become complacent. I just want Draco to come back safely. This will make her upset, but we couldn’t have skirted around it forever.’

‘You really do love her, don’t you?’ asked Audrey, while most of the room seemed to be in varying levels of discomfort.

Hermes nodded. ‘It’s not fair,’ he said.

‘Hermes, love,’ said his mother. ‘Your father and i understand that Draco’s parents seem to be an...exception to wizarding society, and while you are perfectly capable of taking care of yourself…’

‘At the very least, both Malfoys would be stripped of their wands for some time and placed on house arrest,’ assured Mr Weasley. ‘I don’t know about imprisonment, though I can’t argue they don’t deserve it--’

‘Why wouldn’t they get any jail time?’ asked Hermes’ father. ‘They kidnapped my son!’

‘They should get jail time, absolutely,’ agreed Hermes, though he had no idea how Draco would feel about it.

‘The Malfoys are rather…’ began Percy.

‘They give a lot of money to the Ministry,’ said George. ‘Lined a lot of pockets. It’s how Lucius probably managed not to go to Azkaban with his delightful sister-in-law and plenty of other Death Eaters.’

‘Rest assured, Mum, Dad,’ said Hermes. ‘They can’t do anything like this again, or they certainly shall go to Azkaban for a long time.’

Hermes’ parents looked worried, and seemed to want to protest more, as did most of the others in Hermes and Ron’s shared flat.

‘Just say safe, love,’ said Hermes’ mother. ‘Draco is lovely, and we can’t believe her parents could be like this. It all seems under control. Just..’

‘Stay safe, Hermes,’ said his father.

‘No need to worry,’ said George. ‘He has all of us.’

‘We saved him once...’ said Fred.

‘It won’t ever come to it again,’ interjected Mrs Weasley.

* * *

Hermes’ parents left the same with the Weasley’s and Harry. They had expressed wanting to remain close, but Hermes knew that they had a long day of work waiting for them in the morning, and he didn’t want them to be troubled over him, now that he was fine. It helped that Ron returned at the same time from the Ministry, and confirmed that both Mr and Mrs Malfoy were in the custody of the aurors.

Ron retreated to bed almost immediately, after telling him that Draco was still at the Ministry with Daphne, talking to Tonks and Neville, but would soon arrive at Hermes’ flat.

‘I know what you’re thinking, Hermes,’ said Ron. ‘She’ll be here soon, mate.’ He paused. ‘I wasn’t exactly alright with your relationship at first, Hermes.’

‘Yeah?’ said Hermes, fully aware and wondering what Ron was trying to say.

‘And I don’t know if you realised this or not, but I didn’t really become fully comfortable with it,’ said Ron.

‘I did, actually,’ said Hermes, bemused.

Ron had the gall to look surprised. It was just Hermes’ luck that both his best friends were so oblivious. ‘I was trying to keep it a secret,’ he remarked. ‘But Hermes, she was so _furious_. Absolutely refused to listen to her parents and went off on them. Tonks had to stop her at one point. She didn’t really seem to want to, but well…’ he wandered off. ‘Anyway, Hermes, I’m all for the two of you. She’s absolutely refused to speak to them. In fact, marry her.’

‘Err,’ said Hermes, feeling much better.

‘I’m not telling you to do it now,’ said Ron. ‘But you know what I mean. She’ll leave with Neville. No need to storm into the Ministry. She’s fine.’

True to Ron’s word, Draco flooed to the flat only 15 minutes after Ron had retired to sleep. Daphne was with her, and was rubbing circles into Draco’s back.

‘It will all be alright,’ came Daphne’s voice from the kitchen. Hermes got up from his bed and hurried to the kitchen. ‘They’re upset right now, but they’ll come to see reason. They’re not going to excommunicate their only child.’

Draco looked so upset. Hermes hated how upset she looked, and he hated her parents for making her feel this way.

‘Draco,’ he said softly, entering the kitchen.

‘Hermes,’ said Draco, giving him a hug. Hermes took her face in his hands, and kissed her. From the salty taste, she seemed to have just been crying.

‘I’ll take my leave,’ said Daphne. ‘I’ll come back tomorrow with Pansy and Blaise.’

Once Daphne had flooed back, Draco left Hermes’ embrace. ‘I need to talk to you,’ she said.

‘We could wait until the morning,’ said Hermes. ‘Let’s just go to sleep and worry about it later.’

Draco shook her head. ‘I’d rather just do it now,’ she said. ‘Let’s go to your bedroom.’

Hermes nodded. The two of them went to his room, and both sat down on the bed, propped up by pillows.

‘I think it’s been long enough,’ said Draco, facing him. ‘Pansy was deceptive enough I could have gotten away with speaking to them, but I should have told them ages ago. I just didn’t want to face the consequences.’

‘It’s been enough, Hermes,’ said Draco. ‘It’s my fault. I was very firm with my parents. I’ve refused to speak to them at all. It made me so angry that they can’t be genuinely happy that I’m with you. I kept yelling and yelling. I thought my voice was going to go hoarse, but then the aurors made me leave.’

‘Ron mentioned that,’ said Hermes. ‘He said you were completely furious. How did they take it?’

Draco made a sound that was probably supposed to be a laugh. ‘As well as you’d expect,’ she replied. ‘They wouldn’t accept it at first, and were still pleading when the aurors came to speak to them. They were threatening to send me to live with nutty aunt Walburga Black, despite the fact that she’s been dead since I was five years old.’

Hermes snorted. The only link to Walburga left was Sirius, and he was probably the worst influence imaginable according to Malfoy standards. Then again, technically it was Harry who lived in Grimmauld Place, with Sirius deciding to spend most of his time with Remus and Teddy (when Remus had Teddy; the man and Tonks were very good at co-parenting), or whatever or wherever his whims took him. Sirius said it was him making time for himself, as his child-rearing days were over, despite being basically Teddy’s third parent; Remus called it Sirius’ version of empty nest syndrome, as Harry was out of school and an adult.

‘They especially did not like it when Tonks called Mum “auntie dearest” and asked when the two of us are free to look after Teddy,’ said Draco. She burrowed closer to him. ‘They have a lot of money and connections to be punished very severely. I’d guess house arrest or having their wands confiscated for some time. But Hermes…’ Draco put her hands on his shoulders and looked him in the eye. ‘I can’t just live in fear of Mum and Dad for the rest of my life. They’re important to me, but so are you. And I’m not willing to let go of you. They’ll just have to catch up with the rest of wizarding society.’

Hermes let out a breath he had no idea he was holding in.

‘I know you find it strange, but if you were Theo or Blaise or any pureblood boy I was dating,’ continued Draco. ‘My parents would have already planned a stupid wedding. They would have made me keep up with stupid customs and wouldn’t leave me alone with you, but that’s another thing. But..what I mean to say is that they would have made such an effort. It’s disgusting that they can’t accept you based on something that doesn’t matter at all. I’m not proposing to you...but I want everything. I want to go out with you in public, I want to openly call you my boyfriend, introduce you to everyone I know. I refuse to be afraid of anything anymore, because what I was trying to prevent has already happened.’

‘I’m glad you’ve said that,’ said Hermes. ‘I’m sorry what happened with your parents, though.’

‘No, no,’ Draco shook her head. ‘It’s entirely my fault what happened. If I had been less of a coward, our lives would have been so much simpler.’

‘Don’t go blaming yourself,’ said Hermes, gently. ‘I mean, you parents did kidnap me, so they did overreact just like you expected them to. To be entirely honest with you, I thought you were being overly cautious. And I highly doubt that they would never speak to you again. You’re their only child. They are upset, but they’ll eventually have to realise with the fact that we’re together, and nothing will change that. I don’t know how long that may take, however,’

‘I certainly hope that you’re right,’ said Draco, though she looked unsure.

‘Why don’t we go to sleep now,’ suggested Hermes, and Draco edged closer to him.

* * *

As if he hadn’t enough problems, other than the fact that he had been kidnapped by his girlfriend's parents, and they were refusing to speak to her, effectively excommunicating her, was that the Daily Prophet got wind of it somehow. It was so bad that Hermes couldn’t get to work without being hounded by reporters. Draco had managed to go to St Mungo’s by broomstick for work in the morning, but Hermes was forced to apparate into Weasley’s Wizard Whizzes, and use the floo connection they had to the Ministry. Fred and George never went to the Ministry themselves, but the Ministry ordered so much of their protective merchandise (that was created as a joke in the first place) that the Ministry found it easier to give them a floo connection.

‘Ah Hermes!’ said George, greeting him in the back room of the shop, where the fireplace was located. ‘Hounded by reporters! You should have thought of that before dating, what do they call her, your paramour.’ George picked up a copy of the morning’s Daily Prophet, and began to read it unabashedly. ‘I understand that you couldn’t control yourself, and that your love _seems_ to be one that can withstand any amount of opposition, but really? Also, as the person currently between you and all these reporters, I would like a full summary of the compromising position that the Malfoys caught you and Draco in.’

‘ _Compromising position_?’ exclaimed Hermes. He snatched the newspaper from George, despite the man’s protests, and quickly scanned the article.

‘Almost none of this is true!’ said Hermes. ‘We certainly did not have a _romp_ in my hospital bed, as she nursed me back to health at St Mungo’s. I was never he patient, nor have I ever needed to be admitted to St Mungo’s. Healers aren’t even allowed to...and how did they even find out? Ron said that Neville told him it was all being kept quiet.’

‘Probably one of the Malfoys’ pureblood drinking buddies,’ said George. ‘They probably just mentioned it, and that Skeeter woman just went with it. But don’t worry, Fred’s talking to a reporter...’

‘Oh no,’ said Hermes.

‘No need to worry, mate,’ said George. ‘He’s making sure that there will be so much conflicting information no one will know if the Malfoys are even in custody. In fact…’

The two of them became silent, and George produced an extendable ear. They both listened to Fred, outside the shop, talking to a reporter.

‘And then in my sixth year,’ came Fred’s voice. ‘Which would have been Hermes’ fourth. The year of the Triwizard Tournament. It was actually Hermes who encourage myself and Freddie to take the ageing potion.’

‘I thought you were Fred Weasley,’ said a reporter.

‘Hermes Granger encouraged illicit activities?’ said another reporter, sounding absolutely scandalised.

‘She seems like someone that looks up to our dear Rita,’ whispered George to Hermes.  

‘Yes, yes,’ came Fred’s voice. ‘As you may all know, I wasn’t the Hogwarts Champion, but I certainly did participate in nearly every single trial.’

‘How so?’ asked one reporter, sounding very doubtful.

‘Well, it started rather innocently,’ said Fred. ‘Our potions master was always so generous with his Polyjuice..’

‘Polyjuice?’ interrupted a reporter. ‘The production and distribution of the Polyjuice Potion is strictly-’

‘Yes, yes,’ said Fred, dismissively. ‘I have work to do. Let me complete my story. As I was saying, my dear friend Cedric didn’t feel up to participating in the first round, as he had a terrible case, of well, that’s _private_ ….so it obviously fell to me to represent him as Hogwarts champion. And I’d like to say I did a lovely job.’

‘That’s one trial, Mr Weasley,’ said a reporter, pointedly.

‘I did participate in the other two,’ said Fred. ‘But those details are boring! Who of you here work for Ms Skeeter?’

A few of the reporters seemed to have raised their hands, after which Fred continued. ‘Wonderful! Now I need you to have words with her for me, about certain articles she wrote. George was absolutely upset-’

‘Aren’t you George?’ asked a junior reporter.

Hermes took off the extendable ears, and grinned. These reporters had to have been new, as Fred and George had been deemed unreliable by every single person in the news industry. It didn’t stop them from publishing their stories on slow days, however. Hermes wished he could spin stories with the ease and confidence that they did, but he actually needed to be in the wizarding media’s favour. Public perception was based on the article of whatever legislation he proposed, rather than the legislation itself.

‘You’ll be forgotten in no time,’ said George, encouragingly. He handed Hermes two newspapers. ‘Have a look, but no one obviously has a clear idea of what happened.’

‘Yeah, Zabini mentioned that it was probably someone in the Malfoys’ circles who talked,’ said Hermes. ‘But he didn’t know if it was to support them or humiliate them. How they’re being supportive by doing that, I have no idea.’

‘Purebloods think in the weirdest way, mate,’ said George, as Fred entered the back room, and grinned at Hermes. ‘Maybe they think she’ll be ashamed enough to leave you.’

Fred laughed. ‘I think she would have done that earlier,’ he remarked. ‘She’s willing to go to flat you share with Ronniekins. How is she doing, anyway.’

‘She’s upset, understandably,’ said Hermes. ‘But she’s also quite stubborn. It doesn’t feel like it, but I hope that her parents might see reason. But it doesn’t seem likely. She visited Andromeda yesterday. She’s Narcissa’s sister, but they met for the first time. But Sirius and Tonks both told me they don’t think Draco’s parents will see reason.’

George nodded. ‘The Blacks were known to be a ruthless family,’ he said. ‘I remember telling one another horror stories about them when we were children. Normally, I’d say good riddance, but well..’

‘She has you, Hermes,’ said Fred encouragingly, and ran into the shop after a crash, followed by his brother, leaving Hermes, already slightly late, to go to work.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I meant to update much earlier, but I got sick and university, so. I also took many liberties with pneumonia, but I feel like wizards would react differently to it and have different cures and treatments.

The reporters did eventually stop hounding both Hermes and Draco, after Harry was photographed in Diagon Alley with Bill (or you know, the actual  _ father _ ), who had Dominique in her stroller, and then again in the maternity level of St Mungo’s, when he and Ginny went to congratulate Percy and Audrey on the birth of their daughter, Molly. This obviously sprouted the suggestion that Harry either had a secret child he was keeping hidden (which would have been impossible, as Ginny was photographed participating in Harpies’ matches year round, and did not look even slightly pregnant), or that he and Ginny were expecting a child, or both. Draco did not pretend to understand the way the paparazzo thought, but they were far too obsessed with babies. Then again, she could say the same for most of the people around her boyfriend. His friend Ron was constantly looking after one of his nieces or Teddy, as was Potter. This meant that Hermes was usually roped into some form of childcare, which he never seemed comfortable doing. Like Draco, Hermes was an only child, and had never been around small children, or knew much about them. 

Draco was worse with children than he was, laughably so, and couldn’t really imagine herself ever having any. She had never interacted with small children before, as multiple children in pureblood families were a rarity, and both her parents had no siblings (or in her mother’s case, siblings who were alive and not completely out of their minds, or perfectly lovely but had committed an absolutely unforgivable transgression such as not marrying a pureblood, which was almost exactly what Draco was doing, sans any talks of marriage).

‘I didn’t have to, until Healer studies at St Mungo’s,’ she complained, desperately trying to forget what had just happened at her aunt Andromeda’s house. ‘Andromeda is very nice, but I don’t understand why she has to have her grandson over every time. Doesn’t have live with his father half the time? His hands are always sticky!’

‘Most children’s hands are,’ said Daphne. ‘And she might have him over _ because _ of you, Draco. That little boy is your family as well.’

Draco considered this, but did not respond immediately. She felt sick to her stomach after the day she had just had.

‘What’s her husband like?’ asked Blaise. ‘He’s a Muggle, isn’t he?’

‘He’s  _ Muggleborn _ ,’ said Draco.

 ‘I thought you boyfriend would be here with you,’ said Blaise. ‘Or does the Ministry have their employees work on weekends? I thought only St Mungo’s did that.’

‘He’s Spain in for some Ministry business,’ said Draco. ‘He won’t be back for a week.’ 

‘Why didn’t you go?’ asked Blaise, lazily reclining in Draco’s other sofa.

‘I have a job, Zabini,’ said Draco. ‘I can’t up and go to Spain with my boyfriend on a whim.’ No matter how much she wanted to see him.

Blaise snorted, as if the idea of a job was something entirely mundane or useless, rather than something most people in the world did to earn money and survive.  

‘Speaking of your boyfriend,’ said Daphne, somewhat reluctantly. ‘Have your parents said anything?’

It was only three months into their house arrest, and Draco had no idea when she would stop feeling like she had lost something very dear to her. Worse, half the time she felt the urge to run back to the Manor and tell her parents she broke up with Hermes, something she would  _ never _ do. It was her parents who were the ones that needed to apologise, so then why did Draco feel so guilty?

One thing Draco was fairly sure of, however, was that even if she obliviated her parents, nothing would ever be the same again. They had managed to sully everything when they  _ kidnapped _ her boyfriend. Draco was fairly sure they wouldn’t even stopped at killing him, the thought of which made her sick to her stomach. 

Draco knew Hermes was aware of her feelings, and he had been far nicer about the ordeal than Draco ever imagined she could have been. She wanted to apologise over and over and over, and she did, though Hermes would tell her to stop. She just had no idea what to do, because it had changed her relationship with Hermes, mostly for the better, but Draco had realised that he had never expected her parents to do something so drastic, and his parents had been a bit colder to her, as if they weren’t entirely sure what to make of her anymore. Draco couldn’t blame them, because as far as she was concerned it would serve her right if they were openly contemptible to her and made their son break up with her. 

‘They’ve refused,’ said Draco, wondering if crying would help.

‘At least your aunt is nice,’ said Blaise, loftily. ‘How was your visit today?’

Andromeda had introduced her to her cousin Sirius, who had also been disinherited. Unlike Draco and her aunt, he had never married or been in a relationship with a muggle, but it was completely obvious why he had been burnt off the Black family tree. Sirius Black was the embodiment of everything the Black family despised. He had also lived his life in such a fashion. Joining the Order of Phoenix; raising Harry Potter after the death of his parents, the boy who defeated Voldemort, who the Black family was very disturbingly fond of; and among other things, declaring that the Black line would end with him. 

Draco immediately understood why the man was so liked, and had no idea how the man raised Harry Potter because he was the most erratic and flighty person Draco had ever met; his cousin Nymphadora’s ex (if you could call him that, apparently it was more of a dalliance than an actual relationship) Remus must have had as much of a role in bringing up the  _ sodding _ Boy-Who-Lived. Draco knew she shouldn’t begrudge him for anything, but it  _ was _ through his association that the Daily Prophet was so interested in her boyfriend, and after the news she received, she needed to vent.

Sirius Black was also the antithesis of the Black family. Draco was frankly amazed it took so long for him to be disowned. He certainly never hid any part of himself. Andromeda probably could have easily avoided being burned off the family tapestry if she hadn’t married her husband Ted, despite having had less severe beliefs as a child than her family. Sirius Black was another story. He had, from all accounts, began to rebel before he even knew what rebellion was.

Draco had initially liked her mother’s cousin, even though he had been looking at her somewhat strangely when they met.

As she said her goodbyes to everyone, and entered the house to floo back to her flat, her mother’s cousin delivered to Draco the most devastating news she ever heard. 

‘Andromeda doesn’t want to tell you this,’ the dark haired man told her, stopping Draco and ushering her into the kitchen to sit at the table. Everyone else was outside helping Teddy fly a kite his grandfather, Ted, had just bought him. ‘But I don’t think she even really remembered until I brought it up to her. Her parents both died shortly after your parents married, and she never really wanted to speak to her sisters after their allegiances to Voldemort.’

Draco flinched slightly at the mention of the Dark Lord’s name. While it was widely used in the wizarding world now, her father had still been a death eater two decades ago, and Draco was not used to it.

‘Tell me what?’ asked Draco.

Sirius Black looked like he was trying to figure out the best way to answer, and utterly failing. ‘It’s a Black family tradition,’ he said. ‘As soon as someone is burned off the family tree, the elders of the family make an unbreakable vow that they will never speak to or associate with the disowned.’

Draco wasn’t sure if she heard the man correctly. ‘An  _ unbreakable vow _ ?’ she repeated, dubiously, wondering if this was some kind of bad joke, or that perhaps, the man didn’t know what the term meant.

Sirius nodded grimly. ‘The Malfoys don’t have any such traditions,’ he supplied. ‘But I know my cousin well. Narcissa is certainly one to uphold such traditions, even if it means the end of both the Malfoy and Black bloodlines.’

Draco, aghast, could scarcely believe the man. She couldn’t imagine that her mother was capable of something so unflinchingly _ permanent _ . Her mother was a cruel woman, who detested muggles and muggleborns alike, but to cast off her own daughter like that? Draco felt sick to her stomach.

‘I know the Malfoys have never been so severe,’ continued Sirius, when Draco was at a loss for words. ‘I know they have even married half-bloods here and there, but well, you’d know your father better than myself.’

‘Their wands have been confiscated,’ said Draco, trying to come up with something and utterly failing. ‘Maybe I could..’

‘Andromeda and I will help you however we can,’ said Sirius. ‘But just remember that Narcissa plans on making that vow as soon as she and Lucius get their wands back, make no mistake.’

Draco had rushed back to find her friends waiting for her at her flat. In that moment, Draco wanted Hermes so she could tell him everything that Sirius had told her. On the other hand, she felt terrible telling him after everything that had happened, but he never begrudged her, and Draco would have wanted to be told, had she been in her boyfriend’s shoes. He also became furious with her, which was nice. 

Hermes was away for a week, and Draco felt like she would burst waiting to tell him (it was obviously a conversation held in person), so Draco told her friends and gauged their reactions. 

Daphne was understandably extremely upset (Draco wished her parents were like Daphne’s, who took the wizarding world in stride, and approved of basically everything their daughters did), but Pansy and Blaise looked guilty. 

‘You already knew,’ said Draco accusingly.

‘We were going to tell you,’ said Pansy.

‘We only found out a few days ago,’ said Blaise at the same time.

‘It’s worse, Draco,’ said Pansy. She hesitated; probably the for the first time in her life. ‘My mother seems to think that your parents are attempting to have a baby.’

‘ _ Another baby? _ ’ said Draco, weakly. What next? ‘My mother is nearly 50, and she was barely able to have me.’

‘Your father doesn’t seem to like it,’ said Pansy. ‘But he seems to be caving to your mother’s will. And Draco, as much as I hate to say this, it is possible. Wizards have been known to have children rather late in their lives.’

Draco didn’t know what to do. She felt utterly powerless, and simply burst into tears.

‘ _ Draco! _ ’ exclaimed Daphne, hurrying to comfort her friend, looking close to tears herself. She was followed by both Pansy and Blaise.

She desperately wanted her mother, but her mother  _ was _ the problem. She couldn’t have her parents. She wanted her mother to mother her like she always had and feed her small cakes made by the house elves in the kitchen, like she always had whenever Draco was upset. Her mother had been a lovely and compassionate mother to Draco, which had changed completely the moment Narcissa found out about Hermes.

Draco supposed that she was mainly to blame. She was  _ well  _ aware of of her parents’ views on blood purity, but had always assumed she was more important to them. Clearly, not if they were planning to have another child so easily. The cold hard truth was, her parents were vindictive, sadistic and genuinley cruel people to the rest of the world, and had raised her to be the same. 

She probably should have expected it, as Narcissa still kept in touch with her dead sister’s husband, despite the fact that she couldn’t stand him. Rodolphus Lestrange might have survived Azkaban, unlike Bellatrix, but it rendered him utterly insane.

On the bright side, Draco thought bitterly, a few hours after her outburst, the only person less capable of having child than her mother was Narcissa’s own mother, who had perished long ago. Draco had used her mother as a practice patient during her healer studies, and knew that nothing short of a miracle would get Narcissa a baby to replace her apparently irrecoverably permanently disowned and easily replaceable daughter.

* * *

 

Life did get easier for Draco, or she supposed she became used to the realisation that her parents couldn’t accept her life as it was in the back of her mind. Her parents house arrest was lifted after one year, and their wands were returned to them. They weren’t completely free, her cousin Tonks (“ _ never _ call me Nymphadora”) telling her that their wands were to be checked from time to time.

‘Nothing even resembling an unbreakable vow,’ said Neville Longbottom, who had come to Hermes’ flat the night before and seemed to be ganging up with him and Harry to ask out someone whose name Draco hadn’t caught.

She had been pretending to be busy the night before, but as usual, had been thinking about her parents. Longbottom hadn’t been told why to look for an unbreakable vow, had been confused about the ordeal, but still told them. On the other hand, Draco’s aunt and Sirius Black had both been looking at the situation entirely pessimistically, and were surprised it hadn’t happened already. On the bright side (if it could be considered bright), it wasn’t possible for her parents to secretly perform an unbreakable vow without the Ministry knowing. 

It was nearly May, which meant that it was almost a month left for Draco’s birthday. She idly wondered if they planned on performing the spell on her birthday. It was certainly spiteful enough. Draco could easily have imagined herself doing something similar, which meant her parents were probably ready to do it. As she walked the wards of St Mungo’s, checking up on her patients, Draco remembered a dream she had had nearly a week ago. 

Her parents had invited her and Hermes to the Manor on her birthday. The two of them had evidently been drinking, as her mother couldn’t do much more than hiccup and giggle with Draco’s father, in between sips of whatever was in her bottle. There was a large banner on the on the priceless and irreplaceable wallpaper with the word  _ S I K E _ written on it. Draco had just learned the word the night of the dream, having heard it in a muggle film she was watching with Hermes. 

It had been a somewhat nice dream, with Draco being fully aware it was a dream the whole time. Her parents didn’t  _ get _ drunk. It was considered bad character to lose one’s inhibitions (Draco wasn’t really sure how their past loyalty to Voldemort was justified), and they would never marr the fine Malfoy wallpaper. And well, the prejudice.

Her parents had eventually stopped laughing at everything, and proceeded to fondle Hermes like he was a kitten, or possibly a priceless tiaria. They were cupping his cheeks and admiring him as if he were a shiny jewel, and they were children, rather than two middle aged wizards. Then, in between sips of whatever midnight purple concoction they were drinking that made them laugh uncontrollably, they had been distracted by a baby that was somehow also there (Draco couldn’t remember if it was one of the many Weasley offspring or Pansy’s niece), that they believed to be named Scorpius.

‘Why didn’t you introduce us to introduce us to your son sooner?’ her mother had demanded. The baby, was very obviously a girl and looked absolutely nothing like her or Hermes. 

Draco couldn’t remember what happened next, and didn’t have time to. She was ushered into a different patient ward after she left her last patient, an elderly woman called Mrs Robbins, who had had an unfortunate graze with fiendfyre, who was recovering better than Draco had expected her to.

‘The diagnosis is rather simple,’ said Healer Toosy, walking with her to the patient’s room. ‘Some kind of easily treatable muggle illness. The problem is with the patient. I was hoping you could help with that?’

‘My help?’ said Draco, bemused. Draco was good at many things, but her bedside manner was frankly somewhat lacking still, which was why she preferred working on treatments and complex potions, rather than interacting with patients. ‘I remember you telling me just last week to be better at dealing with patients.’

‘You’ll understand,’ said Healer Toosy, ushering Draco into the patient's room and leaving. 

Draco wondered who the patient possibly could be, and how she was better suited to treat whoever it was, instead of Healer Toosy, who had been a healer long before Draco was born.

She needn’t have spent much time wondering, for the patient turned out to be her father.

‘Father,’ remarked Draco, and looked at Healer Toosy’s notes. ‘Pneumonia.’ Draco struggled with the word, pronouncing the ‘p’, not familiar with the illness. One of the aurorus that checker her parents’ wands must have exposed her father to it. Draco knew very little about the illness, just that it was of muggle origin.

‘Well, according to these notes, all you need to do is take this potion, rest for three days and take it easy for a week,’ said Draco, holding up the potion within her father’s reach. 

Lucius scowled, looking very fatigued. Draco wondered where her mother was. ‘I certainly do not have anything of the sort,’ he sniffed. ‘It seems that the standards of St Mungo’s leave much to be desired.’

‘It’s fairly obvious that your disease is of muggle origin,’ said Draco. Feeling somewhat wicked, she added, ‘I wasn’t even aware the disease could spread to wizards.’

‘It cannot,’ maintained Lucius, gritting his teeth. ‘I demand a new diagnosis.’

Draco shrugged. ‘Healer Toosy is the most experienced and knowledgeable healer on this floor,’ she said. ‘Another diagnosis would take time, and despite the fact that the disease is easily treatable, there are many undesirable side effects, some that we cannot predict because the disease reacts differently to wizards. As you are a wizard and have never been exposed to any muggle ailments,’ Draco looked up from Healer Toosy’s notes. ‘The side effects could include further problems with bleeding, problems with the lungs and bloodstream, even  _ infertility _ of left untreated.’ The last symptom was certainly not mentioned in her father’s patient notes, but Draco was feeling rather vindictive. 

This was why it was not advisable for medical staff to treat their own relatives, but no one else probably wanted to deal with her father, Draco was fairly certain.

Her father at least had the decency to look ashamed, even in his weakened state. 

‘I suppose I should be glad you haven’t performed an unbreakable vow,’ she said, feeling like a sulky 16 year old rather than a professional healer and potioneer. 

‘Draco Narcissa,’ said Lucius, before starting to develop a coughing fit. ‘Do not whine. You are a grown woman. It is unbecoming.’

‘I feel as if you forget yourself,’ said Draco. ‘You’re the one refusing to take a simple potion that will prevent suffering and pain, because you believe yourself impervious to lowly muggle ailments. Similarly, you and Mother have effectively disowned me for my boyfriend. So you are the one acting like a child.’

‘Don’t-’ started Lucius, at which point Narcissa entered the room. The look she gave Draco was one she was familiar with; it was the look Narcissa gave when she believed that something or someone was so  _ beneath _ her, it was an affront to her that the thing existed. It twisted the insides of Draco’s stomach that she felt she needed to run away and cry and never stop. She had never expected her mother to look at her in such a way. Her estrangement from them felt deathly real, all of a sudden, as if it she hadn’t been taking it seriously at all before.

‘Mother,’ said Draco.

‘Don’t,’ said Narcissa, not even bothering to look her in the eye. ‘Your  _ perversion _ has…’ Draco stopped hearing her until. ‘LEAVE NOW.’

* * *

 

Later, Draco was told by the receptionist that her father had taken the potion, but both her parents had asked she not be allowed to treat him or even show her face. Draco felt very weary, and felt it would have been better if her parents had simply died, rather than something like this horrible happen to her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully, I'll post the next one faster. This was meant to be the last chapter, but I think the next one will be, hopefully. In the meantime, find me on tumblr at http://anarchistslullaby.tumblr.com/


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last chapter! Finally! I hope you guys enjoy reading.

Calling the most stable thing in Draco’s life a  _ perversion _ was the final nail in the coffin. In hindsight, she shouldn’t have been so surprised at her parents’ language, but it felt entirely different and out of the blue when it was directed at her. So, Draco had to start learning to live without thinking of her parents at all. She made told her friends not to mention them or what they were up to, and tried to move on as best as she could. There were no mentions of any unbreakable vow or a new Malfoy baby, and while she had been removed from the Black family vault (old magic), her parents seemed to not have cared about the Malfoy one from which she still received a monthly stipend.

She celebrated her 27th birthday, right before Hermes transferred to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. She attended the wedding of Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley, something she would have never imagined doing. Shortly after this, Hermes moved in with her. 

Draco started teaching trainee healers, which didn’t go as badly as she had always expected to. She had begged off for years, saying that she wasn’t nearly patient enough to teach, but it proved to be a good experience for her. 

Her life was generally good, sometimes interrupted by the likes of Rita Skeeter and the sporadic difficult patient at work. Her relationship with her boyfriend was lovely, but there was always the lingering feeling that something was missing from her life. Then again, Draco supposed, most people generally do not feel entirely fulfilled in their lives. Her parents were never going to be a part of her life again, and she had to make peace with it.

Of course, life never goes as one expects.

* * *

 

Hermes had joined Neville to a routine search at the home of Rodolphus Lestrange, who had managed to survive Azkaban with  _ just _ enough sanity to not be a permanent resident of St Mungo’s. 

‘The man’s a raving lunatic,’ remarked Neville, as they apparated near the former death eater’s home. ‘Still thinks Voldemort’s going to come back from the dead. It’s been nearly 30 years almost. So it’s fairly likely he’s hoarding all sorts of dark artefacts.’

‘I’ve seen the list of the things confiscated from his vault,’ said Hermes. ‘We’re probably going to have to use force.’

His prediction turned out to be true, because as soon as Rodolphus realised someone was at the door, he launched a flurry of (shaky) curses, that both Hermes and Neville were easily able to deflect. Hermes cast a spell to call for reinforcements.

What both Neville and Hermes had not accounted for, was the fact that there was another person in the house with him. Rodolphus sent another round of curses, which were even shakier and went all over the place.

‘Rodolphus?’ came a voice that Hermes recognised as belonging to Narcissa Malfoy, followed by a strangled yell. She had been hit. Hermes suddenly remembered Draco telling her how Narcissa sometimes went to see Bellatrix’s husband.

‘Incarcerous!’ Neville managed to subdue the former death eater, which sent him on a spiel on how Voldemort would “reward him for his loyalty”. ‘I’ve got him, Hermes.’

Hermes rushed to the source of the voice, and found Draco’s mother collapsed on the floor of the home. She was still conscious, but barely. Hermes quickly conjured a stretcher and levitated her on it.

Narcissa passed out.

* * *

 

Draco had hurried to the Ministry as soon as the receptionist had told her her mother was there, and had been in an altercation of some sort, but the aurors hadn’t said anything else. She was met by an auror she had never met before called Marchbanks, who had explained what had happened. Narcissa had been with Rodolphus Lestrange, when aurors had arrived to search his home. The man was completely out of his man, and predictably had not taken it well. 

There had been an altercation, and one of Rodolphus’ curses had hit Narcissa, causing her to pass out. 

‘Rodolphus Lestrange was subdued,’ said Marchbanks. ‘No one else was hurt. Your mother was checked by a healer, and she will recover in a few days. We still have to interrogate her, so she’ll be here until we’ve determined that she wasn’t helping Rodolphus Lestrange smuggle dark items. Your father is also here, and he is being questioned at the moment.’

He asked Draco a few questions, and then told her she could go see her mother.

‘Wotcher, Draco,’ said Tonks, intercepting her just before she entered the room her mother was in. ‘There’s no need to worry, she looks worse for wear. But you’d know that better than my, I suppose.’ 

‘Uh, yeah,’ said Draco. 

‘That Rodolphus is a piece if work, I have to say,’ said her cousin. 

‘Apparently Bellatrix was worse,’ muttered Draco, wondering if Hermes was nearby.

Tonks mock shuddered. ‘I can’t imagine how Mum..’ she began. ‘I have to hurry, but just one more thing. Hermes is perfectly fine. He’s still at Rodolphus Lestrange’s house, doing the search.’ She patted Draco’s shoulder encouragingly, and walked off, dressed in auror’s robes. It was the first time Draco had seen her cousin in them.

Draco nodded, nervous to her mother’s reaction to seeing her. At least, she thought sullenly, Narcissa would be too weak to yell or curse at her. She opened the door.

Her mother was laid down in a bed, very white and weak, which was what Draco had expected. 

‘Draco,’ she said, turning her face towards her daughter. If Draco wasn’t wrong, she seemed almost regretful.

‘Mother,’ said Draco, sitting down on the only chair in the room.

‘He saved my life,’ muttered Narcissa, very weakly. ‘I would have killed him, had I been in his shoes.’

Draco was fairly certain that her mother was referring to her boyfriend, but pressed on.

‘Who, Mother?’ she asked. 

‘Your mud-muggle boyfriend,’ said Narcissa. ‘I was fairly certain I was going to die, and he just happened to be there.’ She coughed, and Draco performed a spell to ease her mother’s throat. ‘In that moment, my life flashed before my eyes…’

Narcissa paused, looking as if she were about to cry. ‘I realise,’ she said, so softly Draco could hardly hear her. ‘I realised that I would have died, you knowing that I hated you. I realised then that you are the most important thing in my life, and I have acted unforgivably towards you.’

Draco stayed silent, not fully sure if she should believe her ears. She had daydreamed often of her parents coming to their senses, but didn't think she had actually expected for it to happen. A small spiteful part of her wanted to refuse her mother’s apology. A small voice from the back of her mind told her that this was only temporary; she must be dreaming or her mother was only saying these things to laugh in her face later.

‘Your father wanted to… he was ready to ask for forgiveness,’ said Narcissa. ‘But I was too entrenched in our way, in my hate. He refused to do the unbreakable vow, and I’m glad for it now.’

She coughed again. ‘If roles were reversed,’ she said, slowly. ‘I would have murdered him. Yet, he saved my life. I can’t imagine I would have ever done the same for anyone, much less someone that kidnapped myself and would readily have tortured me.’

‘He works for the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Mother,’ said Draco. 

‘I was ready to never speak to you again until I almost died,’ said Narcissa. Before she could continue, the door opened and Auror Marchbanks led her father inside, followed by Ron Weasley. Lucius looked like he wanted to say something, but before he could Auror Marchbanks spoke.

‘Only one visitor allowed, I’m afraid,’ he said. ‘Auror Weasley, if you could.’

‘Yeah,’ said Ron. ‘Uh, follow me, Draco.’ He glanced at both of Draco’s parents, and led her out. ‘Hermes is back, if you want to see him.’

Draco nodded. ‘That would be nice,’ she told him, and followed him to her boyfriend’s office.

* * *

 

After Narcissa was cleared of any wrongdoing by the aurors, and she promised her husband she would never speak to Rodolphus again, it was a slow process. Lucius had clearly been over his ‘bitchfit’, as eloquently put by Blaise, a long time ago and was ecstatic. Narcissa was very apologetic, and seemingly trying to treat Draco the same way she had pre-bitchfit. Draco refrained mentioning her boyfriend, but her mother never brought him up. 

Lucius sometimes asked about Hermes, when it was just the two of them. Much to Draco’s displeasure, her mother seemed content to live in a world where she had to ignore the boyfriend that had saved her life. Draco supposed she could just show up with Hermes to the manor, and force her mother to confront him, but that would mean taking Hermes to the manor, something she did not want to put her lovely, caring boyfriend through.

‘I’m sure you could get Fred or George to take polyjuice and do it,’ mused Ron, which was met with resounding agreement from not just the twins in question, but also many other people, including most of the Weasley family, Harry Potter himself, her cousin Tonks, Sirius Black (‘I haven’t seen Narcissa in so long’), and nearly everyone invited that night for supper at Grimmauld Place.

Nearly a year later, her father had met Hermes a few times, which had gone just as awkwardly as anyone could anticipate. Her father asked if Hermes liked flying or playing quidditch, the former her boyfriend detested and the latter he was rubbish at. Her father also seemed surprised that Hermes worked for the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, which neither Draco nor Hermes had taken well. 

‘I suppose you think being a muggleborn means that I just leech off your daughter and the entire wizarding community as a whole?’ Hermes had asked.

In response, Lucius was forced to admit that he had never really considered anything different, which was insulting but not a surprise to either of them. When Hermes had recanted the exchange to both Ron and Harry, they had only laughed and told him it was his own fault for dating Draco. Then, Ron had told both her and Hermes about when Fred and George had polyjuiced themselves into Audrey’s parents, and gone to see Percy at the Ministry, terrifying the life out of him and forbidding him from seeing their daughter. 

Hermes’ parents had not taken the fact that Draco’s parents were seeking to make amends. They liked her, and thought her a lovely match for her son, but Hermes still had to tell his parents that he really never saw Draco’s parents; his meeting with Lucius was merely a coincidence. The man happened to be at the Ministry, and had bumped into Hermes. 

‘How do you think they’d react if we got married?’ asked Draco, idly. She was lying on his lap on the bed, while he was reading a book about ancient Egyptian arithmancy.

Hermes looked down at her. ‘I don’t think getting married just to spite your parents and force them to attend is a very good idea,’ he said. He thought for a moment. ‘Why did you jump to marriage, though?’

‘Oh, I got fed up with Mum skirting around you so much,’ said Draco. ‘And then she referred to you as my husband. They just assumed that we’re married because we’ve been together for so long.’

‘I know most purebloods marry quickly,’ said Hermes, closing his book and placing it on his nightstand. ‘But wouldn’t they have found out from someone somehow? From Pansy’s parents or someone?’

Draco shrugged, as Hermes slid down and laid next to her. ‘I think they thought we’d married in the muggle world, I guess,’ she said. ‘Their perspective of marriage is fairly skewed. Like their perspective on the muggle world I suppose.’

‘You could simply say their perspective on the entire world is skewed and not waste your time,’ said Hermes, kissing her temple. 

‘That’s fair,’ sighed Draco, her own life having been shaped by the misconceptions and customs her parents and many purebloods kept. She loved Hermes, dearly, but had no desire for marriage because of the way her parents had treated it. As an inevitability, to ensure progeny and keep to their pureblood heritage. It was very clinical, rather that something truly wonderful. 

She thought for a moment. ‘I could ask them how they’re progressing at giving me a sibling,’ she mused.

Even Hermes seemed shocked. ‘I thought the idea was to have a relationship with your parents,’ he said. ‘I mean, they have been horrible to you, but I don’t think such strong blackmail is advisable.’

‘What if I want a sibling?’ asked Draco, kissing Hermes.

Hermes snorted, interrupting the kiss. ‘They’d start telling you to have children,’ he said. ‘Then again, I can’t imagine how they’d feel about half-blood grandchildren. People can be very strange about grandchildren, though.’

‘Mhmm,’ said Draco, suddenly not interested in the conversation. ‘I suppose I’ll have to see where the future leads,’ she said, running her hands through her boyfriend’s hair. ‘I’m getting tired of talking about my parents. Tell me about yours.’

Hermes laughed. ‘My mother told me how she misdiagnosed a child, which somehow ended up saving the little girl’s tooth,’ he said. 

‘That’s nice,’ said Draco, having no idea how muggles diagnosed teeth ailments. She supposed they would have had to have leaned to, not having the ability to magically fix them. She adjusted herself so that her head was comfortable on Hermes’ chest, and wondered what the future would be like. It was a slow process, her parents picking up the pieces, but at least it was something.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for sticking to this story, and for putting up with my sporadic uploading of chapters. Initially, I expected it to be shorter, but oh well. You can find me on tumblr: https://anarchistslullaby.tumblr.com/

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on tumblr: http://anarchistslullaby.tumblr.com/


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